Opening Up
by Dominus Noobius
Summary: With the Ballas making counterattacking runs and the Columbian Cartel looking to move into Vice City, two of America's deadliest marksmen are in the lead to quash their respective threats.
1. Drivebys

**Opening up: Part 1: Drive-bys and ambushes**

"Hey, jump in, bro," said Sweet Johnson as he pulled up in a Greenwood. Both CJ and Sweet had their own cars, but most of the time they jacked them, due to the fact that to avoid the Ballas lurking around, waiting to ambush them both, they needed a good escape vehicle.

"Damn Ballas still mucking around our territory." Sweet muttered as CJ clambered into the car, SMGs in both his hands. The turf war between the Grove Street Families and the Ballas hadn't showed any side giving up, despite the fact that over the last few weeks and months, CJ had killed Ryder and Big Smoke, plus several leaders of the Ballas, and pushed them bit by bit out of their turf. But something seemed wary. Their leadership crushed, their turf being assaulted hard, the Ballas still seemed to have a trick in hand. Their numbers never seemed to be slowing down, and CJ had a growing suspicion that they were allying with other rivals, perhaps the Da Nang Boys, long time enemies of CJ's allies, the Triads.

Meanwhile, in Vice City, Tommy Vercetti grabbed an M4 from a room under his mansion and headed off to the main room in the mansion, where several random objects including a VCR, and a few trophies atop a TV lay. Grabbing a Tarbrush Coffee from the fridge, he also took out some fresh muffins that Umberto and his father sent him from Café Robina, whenever he had time to drop in. As he was eating his breakfast, one of his informants, Mark came in.

"Sorry to interrupt on your breakfast Tommy, but I've got some news," he said.

"What is it, Mark?" Tommy asked, looking up from his muffins and taking a gulp of beer.

"Apparently sir, the Colombian Cartel has been making plans to push their SPANK businesses into Vice City. They know you've been leader of the city for six years now. But they want to take a chance. If they succeed, their operations will outlast our own coke pushing. They're organising a deal at the moment with the Haitians this afternoon."

"SPANK, eh? Well I was expecting something like that to happen. Well thanks for the information, Mark. I'm going to have to think of a way to get rid of them and on the way, get our own slice of this drug."

A small group of Ballas readied, waiting with their Tec-9s behind a roadblock of Ranchers was positioned in the alleys providing a fast shortcut to the next street. They were waiting to ambush Sweet and CJ, those two Grove Street assholes who had been taking their turf away from them. They knew CJ and Sweet were used to coming this way back to head towards their house, which they had managed to find out.

The Greenwood trundled along the street. CJ inspected the street closely, checking for the sign of any Ballas. Suddenly, he saw a shirt of the Ballas gang-colour.

"Oh shit," muttered Carl as he readied his SMGs.

Sweet had obviously seen the Ballas as well. He grabbed a Desert Eagle and a MicroSMG from under the seat and as they sped towards the group of Ballas, he temporarily let go of the steering wheel and opened fire. His quick fire managed to blow through the roadblock of Ranchers, blowing one up and sending the Ballas waiting there diving for cover. Not that they found any. Carl's twin SMGs swung into action and quickly blowing the remaining Ranchers, creating a huge explosion. The Greenwood swung to the left, sped into the alley, and rammed the now crippled Ranchers into any surviving Ballas. The sheer speed and force of the Greenwood propelled it through the alley. Carl calmly ejected the almost-spent clips of his SMGs, and chucked them into the back. The Ballas had yet to learn how to ambush properly.

After his breakfast, Tommy hopped into an Infernus parked near his garage, and drove off in the direction of Café Robina. When he arrived there, he headed inside to talk to Umberto.

"Hey, my man! What up Tommy?" Umberto asked as Tommy headed in.

"Hi Umberto. Just want to tell you that those Haitian dickheads are making a deal with the Colombian Cartel today, and I was wondering if I could borrow some of your man to interfere with their deal.

"Sure, man, I'll get Rico and the guys to come."

"Thanks."

"Hmm, I was wondering if we could get the Haitians to distrust the Colombians. You think you know where you can find a Cartel gang car?"

"Hey, man, I think I saw one somewhere near that Haitian drug factory we blew up six years ago, man. I think it'll be hard to get that."

"Okay, thanks for the information Umberto, I'll come back to take out the Haitians with the boys later."

Tommy drove to Sunshine Autos, his own car dealership, and parked the Infernus inside one of the garages. He checked inside another one, and got in a sturdy Landstalker SUV. It was nice and sturdy and if he was going to get that car, he would need the toughness. He also grabbed a helmet, just in case he was spotted by the Haitians. Putting the helmet on, he drove off towards the site where he had blown up the Haitian drug factory six years ago. The drug factory was in its ruins as usual, but Tommy spotted a sturdy vehicle with two members of the Cartel guarding it. Slowly, Tommy opened the window, withdrew a PSG-1 sniper rifle from under his seat, and fired two shots.

Tommy made a run for the Cartel Cruiser. Luckily, the door was unlocked, so he grabbed it and sped off. The Haitians nearby noticed the fleeing Cartel Cruiser, and opened fire with their pistols. The small bullets struck the car, but due to the toughness of the Cruisers, they didn't do much damage. Tommy sped off to the Café Robina, where he waited and had lunch with Umberto until the drug deal.

"Okay guys, get in the car," Tommy ordered the three men.

"Okay, amigo, that's fine with me. What the hell are we supposed to kill anyway?" asked one of the men.

"Some Haitians by drive-bys. They're having a drug deal with the Cartel. I want you guys to drive-by the Haitians, but don't touch the Colombians."

The Cruiser eventually pulled up near a dock, where a couple of escape vehicles were. Tommy slowly pulled up near the deal, and hit the throttle. Just as they went by the deal, the Cubans with their MP5s given to them by Tommy opened up on the Haitians, taking out every one of them, their bodies slumping onto the grass. Quickly then, Tommy dived out of the car, opened fire with his M4 and dropped the stunned Cartel members, and then running up towards the money and the SPANK. However, he wasn't quite clear. Turned out there were drivers in the vehicles. They quickly opened fire on Tommy.

"Shit!" Tommy muttered as he dived behind some boxes for cover. Crouching, he slowly aimed for the windows of the cars, and fired. The bullets tore through the glass, shattering it and killing the driver inside. Tommy quickly ran towards the Cartel Cruiser, and pulled out before the police cars came to investigate what had happened. After thanking Umberto and dropping the Cubans off, Tommy drove back to Sunshine Autos, storing his new ride in a garage, and gave himself a sigh of satisfaction, before driving back to Vercetti Estate for a well-deserved drink.


	2. Kicking Ass

**A/N: **Thanks for all the reviews. And about the Rico mistake, I'm sorry about that, although I remember in the "Trojan Voodoo" mission of Vice City, when you've got that Voodoo, and go meet the other Cubans. One of the guys who say all that stuff sounds like Rico. And several guides on Vice City have said "go meet up with Rico near the drug compound" or something like that. Anyway, you lot probably don't care. So I'll remove Rico from any further chapters. Ahh, who gives about this? Here's chapter two!

Sweet and CJ finally pulled up at CJ's house. Both of them got out, grabbed their weapons, and took them inside. Kendl wasn't at home. Probably with Cesar, CJ thought. Life was reasonably good now, ever since the Grove Street Families had managed to expand past their regained turf at pretty deep into Ballas turf. Just as they were heading inside, CJ's cell phone rang. Giving an annoyed sigh, he grudgingly turned it on.

It was Woozie. He was at the newly-built HQ for the Triads in San Fierro, because he wanted to use up some funds that he and CJ had gained from their gang warring against the Da Nang Boys, and he sounded rather pissed with something.

"Hello? CJ?" Woozie asked.

"Yeah? What's up?" CJ replied; he was keen to quickly finish off the conversation so he could relax for a moment.

"I got some pretty bad news. Our new informants inside the Ballas have told us that they have decided to ally with those Da Nang freaks (sorry to all Vietnamese). They also want to direct an uber-offensive against us Triads and your own gang, and its allies."

"Oh right."

"Well, I just wanted to tell you to watch yourself for any freaks that come your way."

"Thanks for the info, Woozie." Carl turned off his mobile phone and gave a groan.

So it seemed to be right. The Ballas were making new allies, or other gangs were allying with them. Either way, they had to cease the alliances, and take the Ballas out once and for all.

Tommy poured himself a glass of wine, and sat down at the bar, and had a drink. It had been a reasonably fulfilling day, and he wondered how they would say it on the news. He turned on the TV, and wasn't surprised to see a breaking news bulletin.

"Welcome to VCN News, and we currently now have breaking news. Down in the Vice Ports only half an hour ago, workers there heard a series of gunshots go off, and then explosions."

"A car believed to be one of the Colombian Cartel, was seen driving into a grassy area, and the people inside, opening fire on what seemed to be a deal between Haitian gangsters and the Cartel themselves. A man then grabbed the two briefcases that the two sides of the deal had offered to trade, and ran back into the car, but not before firing and killing the drivers of two cars nearby, both of whom were firing at him."

"The police still have no evidence in what was caused for the killing to happen and what sort of deal the Haitians and Columbians were engaged in, although there are many rumours that it was the drug known in the criminal world as SPANK. At this moment, police are still trying to unearth clues to what led to the killing and the thieving of the drugs."

"And meanwhile, Vice City Mambas looks set to be on their way to a third successive title, and probably is the last for star tight end BJ Smith. Smith today announced that he may be-"Tommy snapped the TV shut. Giving a grin, he wondered if the Colombians were game enough to interfere with him now.

The answer came next morning. As Tommy grabbed a beer from the fridge and had his breakfast in his office as usual, another one of his informants came.

"Sir, the Colombians who you stole the SPANK from yesterday still don't know it's us, but they want to set up a deal with us," the informant said.

"OK, Anthony, but I don't trust those bloody Colombians. I'll have to gather up the boys and get some counterfeit money at the Printworks," Tommy said.

"Okay, sir," the informant then walked out of his office.

Carl headed back outside, jumping into the Banshee in his garage, and drove off towards the direction of San Fierro. After an hour or so of driving, he pulled up at a newly-built Triad headquarters, where Woozie was waiting there to meet him. And not to Carl's surprise, he had some news for him.

"I didn't tell you this during the call, but the Ballas are trying to completely gain the Da Nang Boys trust before they start working together. Of course, they have the fact that they are allying against two of their most dangerous enemies. The Ballas and the Vietnamese are having a deal on something that will gain the trust of each other's gangs. It's happening in about an hour. I'm not your boss now, CJ, but do you want to take some of the boys and interrupt the party?" asked Woozie.

"Yeah, OK," Carl replied.

"I've left some firepower on the helipad on top of these headquarters. Go check it out."

Carl climbed upstairs to the top, where he found a modified army Hunter helicopter. They could sit two passengers hanging out on the side, which would be useful for maybe shooting a few rockets, or a couple of sniping options.

Carl soon had at his command, ten Triads. There would be three Triads in the Hunter, one with an M60, since there already were rockets and a mini-gun built into the Hunter. The other passenger had a silenced sniper rifle. Meanwhile, CJ and the other Triads would have to do a bit of sniping from on roofs or some ambushing, maybe some remote grenades setting off at the site. CJ was pretty confident of Woozie and his planning on where the deal was supposed to have gone off. It definitely was a lot of firepower, but CJ and the headquarters had just enough fit out the raid.

Once Tommy was done with his food, he headed off to the Printworks Company. Although Printworks had now turned itself into a more newspaper and magazine publishing company, there was still a money-making process when it was ever needed, like now. Jumping into a Cheetah from his garage, he sped off to Printworks, and when he got there, he headed inside, where he found Ernest Kelly, reading a copy of the newspaper that had just been printed by a machine.

"Hi, Tommy," the old man greeted as Tommy walked inside.

"Hello, Ernest. Can I have 50K in fake money?" Tommy asked.

"Okay, why though?" asked Ernest.

"I got a drug deal with the Colombian Cartel. They want to challenge my status and I'm thinking that they're going to double-cross us because of the fact that we own this city and they're trying to kill us and take over our business."

"Oh right. I knew there was something funny going on. All these dudes in Hawaiian shirts have been walking around the back. All the same."

"They're wearing WHAT?" yelled Tommy, aghast.

"Hawaiian shirts. Why?"

Tommy didn't answer. Taking his M4 assault rifle and his Colt Python, plus an MP5 and four grenades in his pocket, he headed off towards the back, where he found members of the Colombian Cartel strewn all over. Cursing, he steadied his rifle. One Cartel member walked near his hidden position. Quickly, Tommy jumped out and pumped lead into his face. He ran to a large box of paper that was shipped in weekly from the Vice Ports, and dived behind it before anybody could see him.

He peeked over the box at two Cartel members, laughing and talking, backs turned away from him.

"Die, bastards," Tommy muttered.

Quickly, he fired as fast as possible at the two unaware Cartel men. One dropped fast, but the other one took a few bullets before Tommy dropped him with a bullet to the chest.

Quickly, Tommy swung into action, diving behind another box, and dragging the two corpses away, and picking up the clips from their MP5s. Reloading his rifle, he crept towards the remaining Cartel, unaware of what had happened. There were about 15 of them, certainly more than a clip of M4 ammo could handle. But with a bit of luck, hopefully, he could take most of them out. Quickly, he ducked up and opened fire, aiming for the men and their heads. He managed to take four out before all the others realised what had happened, and opened fire at the box.

"Shit!" Tommy cursed himself for not shooting anymore of the Cartel.

Priming a grenade, he quickly tossed one as he ran for some new cover, and pulled out his Python. Aiming with one hand, he fired at one of the pursuing Cartel. As the man fell, the grenade exploded, killing four more. Seven remained. Crossing his fingers for a moment, Tommy aimed at one and fired with his Python, then switched to an MP5 and fired at the remaining ones. The clip clicked as it went empty, and the Cartel members seized their opportunity. Firing all at once at Tommy, Tommy only just managed to roll out of the way of their fire, behind another box. Pocketing the MP5, he tossed another grenade at the Cartel, hoping that it would distract them enough to let him take down a couple more with his Python. The grenade exploded, and Tommy ran from his cover, firing as many shots as he could from his Python. His accuracy was a bit off, but as his clip went empty, two Cartels remained. Taking a chance, Tommy reloaded his MP5 while diving behind another box, but he got struck by a bullet in the shoulder. It hurt like hell. Giving a shout of "Damn it!" he inserted a new clip into the MP5, sweeping from behind cover and quickly taking down the last two men.

The Hunter flew off in direction of the deal. There was still one hour till the deal began, so CJ and the remaining Triads buried some remote grenades underneath the soil. Finally, the moment came. The Ballas pulled up in three vans of four, and the Da Nang followed five minutes later in some SUVs. As all of them converged on the site, the Hunter roared overhead, and CJ and the Triads on the ground set off the detonators. The bombs went off, sending a few gang members flying, obviously dead. The M60 Triad in the Hunter opened up, as did the Hunter's minigun, its auto-aim sweeping through the shocked enemy gang members. The assault was over in two minutes. CJ and the other Triads hiding didn't even need to fire a bullet.

"Wonder what the faces will be like on the Ballas' when they go to see what's gone on, and finds everybody dead." CJ grinned at the Triad nearby.

Oh, yes it would be bloody. And CJ knew that there would definitely be more as this gang war drags on.


	3. Territory Push

**A/N: **Nothing much to say, but I wrote most of this chapter at my school's swimming carnival. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Tommy and his helicopter pilot climbed into the Sparrow and flew off. His pilot had two MP5s, and Tommy had a Colt Python in his pocket in case things got nasty, which Tommy bet they would.

The Sparrow landed at the grassy patch nearby the boatyards, which was often well-known for where drug deals took place at. Tommy's botched deal for Sonny had happened here six years ago. When the Sparrow landed, he already saw the Cartel waiting, four of them, all with 9mms. Tommy took the case of fake money and approached the dealers, and two of them headed back to the Cartel cruisers parked behind them. Tommy dropped the money in front of the two dealers.

"How much SPANK is 20K worth, then?" Tommy asked, glaring at the Cartel members.

A dealer slowly produced a briefcase. Tommy took it, and grudgingly muttered "Nice doing business with you", headed back for the Sparrow.

Peeking behind him, he spotted both dealers produce their concealed Uzis and aim at him. Tommy dived just in time. The bullets cut through the air where Tommy had been standing only a few seconds ago. Picking himself up, he ran for the heli, occasionally making a sudden lurch to distract the dealers from their aim. Jumping into the Sparrow, he yelled at the pilot:

"Go! Come on!"

The pilot obliged. Quickly, the Sparrow manoeuvred forward, flying away from the Cartel members still firing at Tommy. Uzi fire struck the copter, but somehow it managed to stay firm. Tommy grabbed the two MP5s, and fired at the two dealers still out in the open, trying to shoot the copter down. A series of bullets took both of them down.

"Son of bitches!" Tommy cursed as the Sparrow landed on the mansion's helipad.

Then he noticed the briefcase sitting on his lap. Opening it, all he saw was newspaper. Ah, well. At least the Cartel hadn't got him-yet.

Robbie Gonzalez impatiently banged on the table. What took those guys so long to make a deal? He had organised the deal with the Vietnamese street gang, the Da Nang Boys so they could ally together. He didn't trust the Vietnamese, remembering how his dad had told him when he was young about what had happened in 'Nam. But it was getting desperate. The Ballas were losing grip on Idelwood everyday and they needed a powerful ally to help them regain it back, or at least give them a few extra options.

Finally Robbie thought enough was enough. But just as he grabbed his AK-47 from the table, and headed outside, one of his men approached.

"Sir, bad news. We've found several dead Ballas-I guess that's nothing new after all these latest events. But it's where the deal was supposed to have gone off."

"Was it the Da Nang Boys who did it?" asked Robbie, his worst fears confirmed.

"No, we found dead Vietnamese at the site as well. The main suspects are the Triads or Grove Street."

"Damn punk-ass mothers! I'm going to teach those bastards a lesson!" Robbie yelled, picking up his AK-47.

Robbie headed outside, and gathered up his men, heading off for the main part of Los Santos, with thirty men all with Uzis.

CJ was heading back to the Triad headquarters, when above him, the pilot in the Hunter yelled: "Ballas! Heading for Idelwood!"

Hearing this, CJ immediately went and phoned Woozie.

"The Ballas are in Los Santos! A hell lot of them as well."

"I'll send some backup Rustlers. Get that Hunter to fly to where the Ballas are and eradicate them!"

Switching off his phone, he shouted Woozie's orders to the Triads in the Hunter. The Ballas had been foiled before, and CJ hoped they could be foiled now.

"Well, the Cartel will have a problem," one of Tommy's top men said at the meeting Tommy called the night after the busted deal.

"They had their only chance of taking me out without showing their intentions, and they botched it up." Tommy replied.

"Well, have you got an idea on taking the Cartel out, sir?"

"I'm not too sure. We need to distract their other operations."

"But how?"

Tommy stood up.

"Well, I'm not letting any Cartel bitch take me out. I'm gonna take them out!"

Over the next few days, Tommy thought about a plan. But by now, the Cartel was really opening up their shoulders. Many dealers were popping up selling SPANK now. He needed to put a stop to it.

A week after the meeting, the answer came. Anthony, his informant came in and reported some news that gave Tommy new ideas.

"We've found out where the Cartel is shipping in SPANK, sir. They've taken over the _Chartered Libertines _ship and tanks of SPANK are being transferred there every week."

"Well, we need a good explosives man to take the job of blowing that place up. I'll go and see 8-Ball at his bomb shop."

CJ waited for the Rustlers to arrive. When they did, there was already carnage going on, or at least CJ could hear it. Explosions, gunfire. At the scene, the Hunter was circling the Ballas, its passengers firing. A missile from the Hunter fried four helpless Ballas. The devastating surprise attack caught the Ballas out, and several were cooked from the firepower before the others realised what was going on. They attempted to return fire, but they were so stunned they barely hit anything.

Robbie staggered, his AK-47 in one hand. Looking up and seeing a dark brown spot, he fired blindly at it. Men were falling all around him. A burst of machine-gun fire forced him to dive with all the energy he had left. Seeing a nearby police bike, he sprinted for it, and luckily for him, it was unlocked. He sped off, furious with the latest failed attempt.

By the time the Rustlers had arrived at the scene, they just had to mop up the remaining number of Ballas with their machine guns. The Ballas had to go back to the drawing board again.

Tommy jumped inside his Cheetah and headed off to find 8-Ball, the explosives expert. The young man was usually in his garage, watching TV in a small hidden room at the back of the garage, while e waited for somebody to come and get their bomb rigged. 8-Ball knew Tommy well, from a few times where Tommy had gone to see him for some dirty business. As soon as Tommy parked his Cheetah outside the garage, Tommy went to the garage door and knocked, where it was opened by 8-Ball.

"Hey man!" 8-Ball greeted.

"Hi, 8-Ball. How's business?" Tommy asked.

"Pretty good, except I bet most people just want to get that SPANK down their throats."

"In fact, 8-Ball, that's why I came here to visit you. Do you have any explosives that we can rig to the _Chartered Libertines _ship in the ports not so far from here?"

"I think I would, but it would probably be worth a lot of money to cover up for expenses."

"Look, I'll give you 50K for it."

"Certainly. Come with me and I'll show you my secret explosives stash."

Tommy followed 8-Ball into another hidden room, next door to the garage. That place had everything. Massive amounts of explosives and detonators. An hour later, they had piled the stuff they needed onto two Waltons, and drove off. When they arrived there, 8-Ball told him:

"Man, I'll need cover from you if the Cartel is there. I don't think they'll let us walk straight onto the source that is currently giving them bottomless funds in this city."

"I'm prepared," replied Tommy, pulling out a PSG-1 with a silencer twisted on.

"Cool, man, because this is going to be long."

As soon as 8-Ball headed towards the ship, Tommy started firing, picking off Cartel left, right and centre. Several tumbled off the ship into the sea. When Tommy spotted 8-Ball run out ten minutes later, he gave him a thumbs-up. As soon as 8-Ball took his first step off the ship, Tommy ran over to the detonators, and slowly activated all of them, one by one.

The result was obvious. A series of explosions rippled through the ship, making a huge amount of noise. Then, came an even bigger explosion, and then a _splosh_ as the ship slowly began to sink into the water.

"Come on! Grab this stuff up and let's head back to Vercetti Estate and get your payment before the cops come." Tommy yelled.

They quickly packed up the detonators before flooring it back to the mansion, where Tommy handed 8-Ball two briefcases of green.

"Nice doing business, 8-Ball. See you in a while!" Tommy yelled as 8-Ball drove back to his bomb shop.

Well, the Cartel's SPANK operations were shut down for the moment. Now he could concentrate on taking them out.


	4. Author Note

Well, an author note that will be very short and is probably not worth a chapter. Just a quick note to say that Part one of this story is finished. Taking a break by mucking around on Vice City and Halo on Xbox and such.

Part Two will be coming out, but it might be a while as I am taking a break. Thanks for all the reviews and stay tuned for the next chapter!


	5. Back to An Old Haunting Turf

**A/N: **Well, another chapter. Hope it hasn't been for too long. Please keep on reviewing! Thanks.

"Another massacre has occurred yet again in Los Santos. Members of the aggressive street gang, the "Ballas" have been found slaughtered in the middle of a street in Idelwood. Rumours have spread that several army planes and helicopters neutralized the gang members as they were charging through that particular street, and left no-one alive. As we speak, police are still identifying bodies, although it seems no citizens apart from the gang members were killed in the fire."

CJ had returned home, sent by one of the Rustlers back to his house just in time to check out the evening news. As soon as that particular newscast ended, he gave an exhausted sigh of relief. For once, he had some spare time. Noticing it was almost dinner-time; he phoned the Well Stacked Pizza and ordered a large pepperoni pizza with a can of Sprunk and garlic bread. He was starving, and needed something to take his mind off a renewed Ballas offensive that was failing, but still sent out danger signs. He turned on his video games console, and played for a while, which was totally unlike Carl Johnson, until the pizza arrived.

Robbie finally arrived back at the Ballas mansion, his AK-47 almost empty, and covered with sweat and blood all over. Jumping off the police bike, he headed inside, shaking his head. They really needed a healthy alliance with those pigs, those Da Nang Boys to have access to some new options. A double-pronged attack would be useful, but the Ballas didn't have allies that could fund themselves for a good effective one. Slowly, he headed to the TV, turned it on, and watched the breaking news.

The _Chartered Libertines _lay in ruins. It was bounded off by long yellow ropes, and was left for everyone to see its charred, burnt remains. The SPANK production seemed to slow down for a while, and Tommy sent some men on hit-and-runs against the Cartel plans. Several were successful, and in one particular raid involving Tommy himself, two vats of SPANK were stolen and stashed in Vercetti Estate. Tommy was having a lunch at the Café Robina when his cell phone, one he had taken off the chef and assassin Leo Teal six years ago, rang. Answering it, he heard the familiar voice of Kent Paul, who had just come back after a world tour with the band Lovefist.

"Hello, old friend. Heard from an old matey of mine about some people who want your head on the gallows. Come 'over 'ere to the club Malibu and let us talk some business, mate," he heard that familiar English accent say.

Anxious to here the information, Tommy bolted down his lunch, waving a hurried goodbye to Umberto, and jumped into his Cheetah to see Kent.

Arriving at the Malibu after getting rear-ended by a rather aggressive Stinger, he headed inside, up to the mini-bar where he found Kent Paul waiting for him, not surprisingly sipping a glass of wine.

"Paul. Nice to see you again. How was the world tour?" Tommy asked his friend that he hadn't seen for four years.

"Ah, not too bad, matey. Let's talk about this nuggetty thing. The Cartel seems to want your head on the boiler. They've been sending and carefully placing those death squads all 'over the Vice. And most of 'em seem to be citizens with a menial job 'ere."

"How many, Paul?"

"I dunno, but I can tell you, a bloody lot of them."

"Well thanks for the information, Kent. I think I'll have to go to safer harbours soon."

"How many bloody times do I have to tell you, mate? The name's Paul, from Kent in England, you idiot."

Tommy shrugged as he headed back outside.

Yet another meeting was called that night. All of Tommy's business partners, past and present attended. Avery Carrington, Colonel Cortez (who had sneaked back to Vice City a year after another series of events in California), Phil Cassidy, Steve Scott and several others attended to sort everything out.

When everybody was present, Tommy announced what he had to say:

"Well, at the moment, the Cartel is trying to blow us open. We could all be sunk. Although I, with the help of explosives expert 8-Ball, have blown up their main supply of SPANK. Kent Paul here, as told me about the hit squads placed to take me out. There fore, I will be leaving Vice for a while, maybe to Liberty or San Andreas The meeting I called today is to discuss our arrangements and how I should get out of this city."

The answer to Tommy's question was answered by Phil.

"I know this guy, Tommy; we fought together in the same platoon in 'Nam, his name's Ray Machowski. He's been in Liberty since the end of the war, and he's a police officer-crooked one. He works for the Yakuza, the Japanese who hate the Mafia and Cartel, and he just might be able to get you to stay there, make some money and disrupt the Cartel operations."

"Well, Ken Rosenberg in San Andreas is always an option; if we can get to him again," Avery said.

"Somewhere in San Andreas seems fine, but I'm trying a rather risky two-pronged task. I want to try and get back at those stupid Cartels for their actions." Tommy replied.

"So Liberty City would be a better option, Tommy?"

"Although I don't want to go back to that hellhole, yes, it would."

CJ took a bite of the pizza, savouring the taste before he washed it down with a gulp of Sprunk; the lemon flavoured soda pop fizzing in his mouth. It had been quite a while since CJ had time to relax and enjoy moments like these, having slaughtered Ballas, cops, and killed people such as Ryder, Big Smoke and Frank Tenpenny over these last few months. As he swallowed the liquid down his throat, the door of the Johnson house opened.

It was Kendl and Cesar, with Sweet trailing behind them tucking into a slice of pizza. Noticing CJ already sitting on the couch and eating, all three of them gave them a look of surprise.

"We thought you would be out until at least after dinner. We heard about the Ballas raid." Cesar said.

"It's fine. The Triads and I stopped it." CJ replied.

"Sure as hell, man! Come on; let's have a little party of celebration!" Sweet yelled, reaching into a bag and pulling out a bottle of cola.

As all of them settled down to eat their pizzas, Sweet went over to the video player, and pulled out a movie.

"Which one? I got these random videos at the video store a couple of days ago." Sweet said.

However, he was cut off by a massive explosion nearby.

"What the?" CJ muttered as he headed outside.

He didn't need to. Bullets were piercing the air. Any nearby cops were opening fire as three cars sped down the street, sweeping Grove Street with bullets.

"Oh shit," muttered Sweet as he rushed into the bedroom, returning clutching two M4s and a Desert Eagle.

Quickly, he tossed the weapons and a few clips to Cesar and CJ, who readied them, and ran outside, Cesar pulling Kendl behind some safe cover, before he took cover next to CJ.

Holding the M4, CJ aimed at the Ballas doing the drive-by, and squeezed the trigger. A hail of bullets took down the three Ballas in one car firing their Uzis, and Cesar had taken down two in another car. Immediately, the Ballas gave up. They turned off, and sped right back to their original turf.

But now CJ, Cesar and Sweet had another problem. The police cars and SWAT vans that had appeared had just decided to crash CJ, Cesar and Sweet, having been told by Tenpenny before he got killed, that they were "dangerous gangsters" on the loose. The cops and SWAT had already opened fire at them. CJ heard bullets strike the wall right next to him, as he hid. Peeking around, he squeezed and dropped a couple of cops firing nearby, then made a run for it. CJ, Cesar, and Sweet all sprinted for an alleyway, with Kendl following them fast, sprinting hard, but tiring. They ran for a car that CJ and Sweet always parked over, just in case a quick getaway was needed. Unlocking the doors, all of them jumped in, CJ driving and Sweet to him, with Cesar and Kendl piling in at the back. Gunning the engine, CJ floored it, speeding out and dodging the police cars racing to trap him. Sweet pulled out an SMG, and began spraying at the pursuing cops. The bait worked. The police cars veered off from the constant wave of bullets, and only accelerated again when Sweet had to reload.

CJ swerved to the right, then the left as he tried to throw off the pursuing police cars. Rounding a tight corner, he sped to the left, and then shot through another street. Seeing that the police cars had been lost, he slowed down the speed, and headed for the nearest Pay N' Spray, as quickly as he could without attracting any more cops. Once the car had been repainted and CJ had paid the money, they all drove slowly back to the Johnson house. Sweet, expecting more resistance, pulled out his SMG, but to his and CJ's surprise, it was deserted. All four of them got out, and quickly ran into the house, finally safe. The movie didn't turn out to be bad either; it was a Steve Scott film and starred Candy Suxx and Kent Paul.

Tommy hefted his sports bag into the trunk of his car, and drove off to Escobar International Airport. It was just 5:20 in the morning, and the flight he wanted to catch was at 6:30. Arriving at the airport, he hefted his bag over his shoulder, glaring at the security guards standing at the metal detectors. They nodded; getting the message of "_This is Tommy Vercetti. Don't mess with me or you will be very, very dead"._ He headed over to the ticket booth, where he bought one business-class seat on the flight to Liberty City.

Running over to the metal detector, he quickly lied to the inspector that somebody wanted him on that plane, and he couldn't afford to lose any time. Once he sat down on his seat, he gave a sigh of relief, and waited for the plane to head off to his old haunting ground.

Several hours, a meal and a good sleep later, the Vice City Air plane officially landed in a docking bay at the Francis International Airport. Tommy got off the plane, slightly jet-lagged, and carried his bag on his shoulders as he walked into a small lobby, for the arrival of the flight from Liberty City. Immediately, a man approached him, and asked him the question:

"Are you Tommy Vercetti?"

"Yes, and I presume you are Ray Machowski?" Tommy replied politely.

"Course I am, pleased to meet you, son," Ray greeted Tommy like an old friend.

"What should I do about now?" asked Tommy.

"Well, do all that check-out crap like that, go get a hotel in Portland, once you settled, and drive over to Kenji's Casino. Here-"Ray began to produce a map, but Tommy stopped him.

"Don't worry, Ray, I'll remember this city like yesterday. Despite the last time I had much of a chance to explore this place was twenty-one years ago."

"Well, take care. See you soon." With that, Ray strolled off to his car.

Tommy gazed at the surroundings, before he hailed a cab nearby. Asking the cabbie to drive him over to a decent hotel in Portland, the cab eventually pulled up next to the Deacon Hotel-Liberty City one. After paying, he headed inside, talking to the clerk and booking himself a room. As he dragged his baggage, he checked the money in his wallet. 800. Probably enough for a while to settle in before he got any more money. When he dropped his bag near his bed, he took a moment to think, and then looked out to gaze at the magnificent city.

For the first time in six years, the Harwood Butcher was back in Liberty.


	6. To Win, You Need A Hell Lot of Luck

Tommy took a quick shower, bought small chips from a nearby Burger Shot, and hailed a taxi, asking the driver to take him to Kenji's Casino on Staunton. He wondered how he was going to get a car amongst all of this. As he got out, two guards standing outside approached him.

"You! Gaijin! What business do you have here?" asked one of them.

"I'm Tommy Vercetti, and I'm here to see Ray Machowski," Tommy replied, pulling out an ID card.

The guards showed him in, through several rooms full of loud Japanese music and every sort of gambling equipment imaginable, and into a small side room. There sat Ray, with two Japanese, one female and one male. All three of them got up to greet him.

"Hi, Tommy. This is the man I was talking about. Tommy, the woman's Asuka Kasen, and that's her brother, Kenji." Ray introduced the two people.

Kenji bowed, and Tommy slowly followed suit, muttering a "Dozo Yoroshiku" with the little bit of Japanese he had learnt from a former Japanese cellmate in Liberty ten years ago. The female, Asuka however, gave Tommy a curious stare before asking:

"What business do you have here?"

"I'm from Vice City, and I want to help you take care of the Colombian Cartel, for they have been attacking me as well."

"The Cartel wishes to expand into Vice City?"

"Yes. And also their main operations at the moment are in Carcer City, I heard they have entered Liberty as well. Although I have managed to halt their operations, I need to your help to defeat them."

Asuka looked at Kenji, who nodded. Turning back to Tommy, she said:

"Well, Kenji and I want you to show us your worth. Kenji does believe that anything a gaijin can offer ends with disappointment. There is a group of Forelli Mafia men picking up a package of special spy and tracking technology somewhere at Bedford Point. The Cartel is going to intercept it, so waste everybody there, and bring back the package. If they get out, chase whoever has the package to death squads placed on the Callahan Bridge."

She headed inside a further bit, bringing out a briefcase with a sniper rifle inside and handed it to Tommy, which he took and added to his MP5 in his pocket. Slowly, he turned around and headed outside. He was back in the job business again.

Tommy jumped into a nearby Yakuza Stinger, and quickly sped off to intercept the package. When he arrived at where Bedford Point was, he scanned the place, looking for any men or any Mafia gang cars that were parked nearby. Just as he was about to investigate on foot, he heard gunshots. Speeding off in his Cheetah, he began to follow the sounds of where the action was going on. When the fire was nearby, he opened a window, and peeked out of it with his sniper rifle to look for any signs of fighting. What he saw, were a series of Cartel men charging towards their Cartel Cruisers. Several of them had AK-47s, and three had Uzis, while one was holding the package. They sprinted and got into five Cartel Cruisers and sped off.

"Damn it!" Tommy cursed. It would be difficult to not get blown up by the Cartel with this car.

Quickly thinking, he did the most stupid thing imaginable. He hit the accelerator and sped towards the so far, unsuspecting Cartel.

Tommy's plan was to drive-by and kill the drivers, and then chase the Cartel Cruiser. If he could, he might be able to get the driver out and take the package. In the end, absolutely massive amounts of luck went Tommy's way. Driving like there was no tomorrow, he struck a Cartel Cruiser full-on, somehow sending it lurching forward into another one. Both spun out and crashed into the walls protecting two houses. The other Cartel Cruisers continued speeding on, somehow oblivious to what had just happened. Must be too busy trying to get away, Tommy thought. Managing to control the swerving car, he managed to catch one of the Cruisers napping at the turn, t-boning it into another one, and putting the last two Cruisers temporarily out of commission.

However, this time, the Cartel saw what was happening, and opened fire. Tommy managed to dodge several of their streams of bullets, but several more impacted into the Yakuza Stinger's light frame. Luckily, it managed to hold enough. But by now, the Cruiser that contained the package was starting to near Fort Staunton, the Cartel's main turf. Noticing this, Tommy raced forward trying to get close to the Cruiser. Finally, he pulled up right next to it. Temporarily letting go of the steering wheel, he steadied the MP5 and fired through the open window of the Cruiser. It was luck yet again that did the trick. The powerful bullets tore through the driver and the passenger holding the package, and both slumped in a pool of blood. Quickly bailing out, Tommy tore the package from the man's dead fingers and sprinted back to the Stinger. However, the two Cruisers who Tommy had rammed had regained their stead, and began charging towards Tommy and his car. Tommy, facing a wall, was about to get sandwiched. So he did the most obvious thing: reverse. The result was the two Cruisers colliding together and then smashing into a wall. Stifling a laugh at the comedy, Tommy quickly turned around and sped off in direction of Kenji's Casino.

Ray, Asuka and Kenji were outside the casino waiting for him. When Tommy pulled up, his car looking through her ringer, all three of them gave him a big thumbs-up as he got out, and handed the package into Asuka's hands. What a way to start in Liberty City, Tommy thought as he followed Asuka into a room and collapsed into a chair.

Over the next few days, CJ had some hard-earned relaxing time. He mucked around eating every sort of junk food imaginable, watched TV, and basically acted like a couch potato in every way except from the fact that he went to the gym a couple of times, and had a little shoot-out with Sweet at the basketball courts a couple of times. However, the start of a new week was the start of a new Ballas plan that seemed suspicious. Two ground attacks on a couple of the Orange Grove Families' turfs, both unsuccessful, then a three-pronged assault followed by another two-pronged assault that included several Da Nang Boys in it. Hits made on Triad protection stores were made by the Da Nang Boys as well.

A week after a hit on a Triad store that ended up with 500 being stolen, CJ received a phone call from Woozie that their spy inside the Ballas had informed them that the Ballas were gathering up for a massive assault. With this news, CJ and Sweet were preparing themselves for a full-on attack by the Ballas. They both packed dual SMGs, a shotgun in their house with several clips, a Desert Eagle, and an M4 each. Even a rocket launcher was ready just in case. Other gangsters of the Orange Grove Families were preparing their shotguns, Tec-9s, and pistols. Grove Street's allies also prepared themselves for the attack that would probably turn Los Santos into a living hell.

The full-fledged war started when several cars full of Ballas opened up with drive-bys in Orange Grove turf. The men inside fired their Tec-9s, spraying at random as the cars raced along. Several Ballas were blasted by shotgun fire, and several citizens and Orange Grove members were injured in the fire that had just started a battle. The cars soon hit Temple Drive Families turf, but over there, they were blown into oblivion by the gang members waiting for the inevitable with their shotguns. Then came the Ballas and Da Nang foot assault. A series of waves of charging men opened fire. That was when CJ and Sweet got involved. Waxing a series of men with his M4, CJ waited behind a pillar, and then blew the brains out of a passing Da Nang Boy. Pulling out his SMGs, he unloaded on a group of Ballas that had been trying to fire across the street at a few members of the Varrios Los Aztecas, likely to have been sent by Cesar. Blood spurted out as each one of them fell. However, CJ's actions were distracted by a flying helicopter overhead, firing at Grove Street gang members. Quickly, CJ rushed back to his house, and hefted up the rocket launcher.

"Say 'hello' to my little friend…" CJ muttered as he fired a rocket at the circling helicopter.

The rocket struck the helicopter, sending it spinning, and crashing near a group of Ballas charging into action. The explosion sent several of them flying, and CJ could quickly jump out, and back to cover, slowly blowing each one of those Ballas into hell. Once all of them were dead, CJ headed back inside to grab his M4, which he had left there for his rocket launcher. But it wasn't there. However, another figure appeared next to him, gripping his M4. It was Sweet.

"Hey, Sweet. Where's my M4?" asked CJ.

"Sorry bro, I needed more clips. Just check outside and you'll see."

Cursing, CJ grabbed the shotgun and ran outside, finding a pile of bodies he hadn't seen when he headed back inside the house.

"See, bro? Good luck, man, 'cos we're gonna need it."

We sure as hell do, CJ grimly thought as he fired the shotgun at two Ballas in front of him.

**End note: **Ok, sorry if this was a slight cliffhanger, but I was tired as hell after school, so… Please review thanks!


	7. The Flashbacks of Two Kings

The shotgun was out of ammunition. Cursing, CJ bent down to pick up a shotgun from a fallen enemy. Running across the street past a cop chasing two Da Nang Boys, he popped a Ballas coming his way, and then pulled out his SMGs, which were now, just about out of ammunition as well. There must have been hundreds of dead gang members on the streets, and a slow stench of a graveyard was filling the air.

As he fired off his second-last clip, luckily for him, two helicopters of fresh Triads unloaded and dropped down, with some ammunition. One of them handed CJ an M4, and another gave him three clips for his SMGs. Then, they all headed off in different directions. Everything was in chaos. The cars in the street were either abandoned, or destroyed. Hardly any gang members still skirmished on the streets, and it seemed that the Orange Grove Families and their allies had pushed back the flow of Ballas, or at slaughtered them all. There were several cops still hanging around, chasing the Ballas who fired at the Grove Street members, but apart from them, no hostiles were remaining.

He could see a news chopper up above, and also, he could spot a Rustler up there. His cell phone rang.

"CJ? You, ok? My men have news that there is still fighting going on in Seville Boulevards turf, but I don't think any Ballas are going to get in your way. Did my handful of reinforcements get to you?" Woozie asked, on the other side of the phone.

"Sure as hell. Are you sure everything's clear?" CJ replied

"I'll call another report from my observers," came Woozie's voice, and then CJ heard a bit of Chinese, before a reply that there might still be a few Ballas coming, but his snipers would take them out.

CJ said a good-bye to Woozie, and snapped the phone shut, giving a sigh of relief. The battle was finally over. An hour of slog, killing and blood all over the place wasn't a good way to end the day.

Asuka handed Tommy a briefcase of money, which turned out to be 5000, and Tommy slowly walked out of the casino, towards the Liberty City ghost-town where the bank was located. When he arrived at the bank, he immediately headed inside and applied for a new account, having forgotten the one Sonny had organized for him before he went to prison. Depositing all his money but 200, he jumped back into the Banshee that Ray had let him borrow, and went off to buy a Cheesy Crust. As he took a bite of Sausage and Cheesy Crust special, he wondered how things were back in Vice City. He had left Avery to his business, and Colonel Cortez to keep his money safe. With several close friends such as Phil with good abilities with guns, his money was in safe hands. Carcer City was the site of the Cartel's main operations, but a frontal assault would be too difficult, so Tommy really needed to push back the Cartel in their other cities to slow down their expansion. Taking his last bite of sausage, and his remaining gulp of cola, he headed back outside for Portland, driving so fast that he was lucky that no police cars spotted him, or he would have been in a police chase. Arriving back in his hotel in twenty minutes, he caught the national news about some carnage going on in Los Santos, San Andreas.

A picture showed of a ground-level view of people sorting piles of dead gang members into one particular area, there were shots of destroyed cars, and even a helicopter was seen on the street, its blades all strewn in different places. It was the sight of a battlefield, one Tommy rarely experienced, still remembering the gang wars between the Cubans and Haitians weren't even as close to the chaos here, nor was how he had killed Sonny.

**-Flashback-**

Tommy leant up close against Sonny, glaring at him.

"I just wanted to piss you off before I kill you," he said, before storming back to his office to grab his Colt Python, Ingram Mac-10 and SPAS 12 shotgun. Sonny, Lance and the rest of the Mafia thugs headed outside as well, to withdraw weapons. Tommy steadied the Colt Python, and waited for the first of the Mafia thugs to come in. When the first one did, Tommy pegged him immediately with a shot to his chest. Several more came running inside the flashy mansion, and Tommy used his Mac, pivoting and dodging their shots, while firing at them. Soon, there was a pile of bodies lying on the mansion carpet. Tommy thought that this place would definitely need a clean-up afterwards; if he even made it out alive.

As he thought about this, Tommy spotted a figure in a white coat appear. It was Lance, glowering with his M4.

"No one to cover your ass now, eh Tommy?" he shouted.

"You're going down, you backstabbing prick!" yelled Tommy, pointing his Python at Lance.

"Oh, you think so?" yelled Lance back at him, returning the favour of pointing the M4 back.

"Ok, I've had enough of this shit," Tommy muttered.

He sprinted back into his office, scooting out to clear up thugs trying to charge in. Grabbing his M60 from the table, he hefted it up, and ran back outside. Steadying the heavy machine-gun, he fired a burst of rounds that caught Lance in the head, and he slumped to the ground, in a pool of blood.

Unluckily for Tommy, this was when Sonny decided to make his appearance. The Forelli Mafia leader strode into the mansion, a Ruger in one hand, and two thugs on either side of him.

"You took fifteen years from me, Sonny, and I'm going to make you pay!" Tommy screamed furiously.

"Still don't get it, do you? I OWN you, Tommy. Thos fifteen years were mine to spend!" Sonny answered sarcastically.

Giving a casual look around the estate, he shouted to his guards:

"Get him boys! He never understood a thing."

Tommy ducked behind cover, reloading his M60 for the final showdown. Quickly turning out from behind cover, he aimed his M60 at Sonny, and fired it, not caring about the recoil, not caring about the flying bullets, not caring about a single thing in the world. The wave of bullets pierced through Sonny's body armour, and several flew into his head, and blew his brains out. As the Mafia boss fell, Tommy felt the pain of a couple of bullets thud into his shoulder. Switching his shotgun on the table again, he fired at the remaining Mafia henchmen standing, and watched them fall. Then, he walked down the steps of the mansion, and sat down, putting his head in his hands.

**-End Flashback-**

Tommy pulled himself out of that memory, and finished watching the end of the newscast, and then he decided to get washed and go to sleep.

CJ shook his head at all the dead bodies stacked up to be buried. There were possibly a hundred Ballas and fifty Da Nang Boys, plus several Grove Street, Temple Drive Families, and Seville Boulevard Families, all having their share of the dead. The only two gangs that had escaped unscratched were the Triads and the Varrios Los Aztecas.

There had been several mass killings that CJ experienced, and they weren't that bad at all. Well, not as bad as this now. He had never ever seen so many dead bodies piled in one single street. CJ put his head in his hands, and slowly reminisced.

**-Flashback-**

CJ fired his M4 at three SWAT guys standing around near the SWAT tank, and quickly grabbing their ammunition, he jumped into the tank. Gunning it into the wall blockading the entrance, the barricade was flattened by the tank's force. Forging on, CJ rammed his way through Ballas charging out of the crack palace, eventually coming near the entrance. Getting out of the tank, he charged into the crack palace, shooting the guy at the top of the stairs. Heading up the stairs, he dropped another Ballas running in from the left, and then headed through another door. There were two gang members at the end of the room, so CJ sprayed bullets at hem, and they fell. Entering another room, he had to dive almost immediately from the spray of bullets that about twenty Ballas fired. Slowly, and methodically, he used hit-and-run tactics: he only turned around to look into the room to quickly pump some lead into one of the enemies, before ducking behind cover again.

As his clip went empty, another SWAT tank burst into the room, flattening several more Ballas, and one of the SWAT guys took out the rest. Taking his chance now, CJ fired quickly at the two SWAT members, taking them down and grabbing a new suit of body armour in a room just before him, before heading into another room, probably full of hard slog, and blood.

Moving on to the next floor, he was once again met by several Ballas, or more like a crapload of Ballas, and a big statue of Big Smoke. That fat asshole wants his figure on statue? Shaking his head, CJ forged his way through the mass of Ballas, ducking behind any cover he found. Soon, a big pile of bodies were strewn all over the place. Heading on, CJ eventually spotted Big Smoke waiting, which didn't seem to give a shit that he was here. As CJ came to face him, all he did was grab a shotgun, and say:

"Let's do it."

Immediately, CJ started aiming for where he was vulnerable, places where he wasn't covered in thick body armour. The problem was that Big Smoke was running about, and firing at him, making it a difficult target for CJ to take him out. Dodging a shot from Smoke's shotgun, he swung his SMG into action, quickly taking out the Ballas that had come to Big Smoke's aid. When they were all dead, he quickly switched back to his M4 and wailed the damage on Big Smoke. Finally, Smoke collapsed in a heap, blood pouring out everywhere. CJ was relieved that it was over.

"I couldn't have missed the opportunity," came a voice nearby.

"Oh shit," CJ muttered to himself, reloading his M4.

Just then, the lights flickered out, and there was a massive explosion. Damn! CJ thought as he reached into his pocket for his night vision goggles. Putting them on, he ran towards the window, and spotted Officer Frank Tenpenny running out for a fire engine. And unbelievably, he saw Sweet.

"Sweet!" CJ yelled.

As Sweet spotted him and knew he was there, CJ immediately started heading for the closest entrance he could find. Pulling out a regular Colt 45 just for any quick work, he fired at any Ballas who fired at him, while running away from this crack-palace, and he was able to hold them down with his fire as he dodged the flames as often as possible. Grabbing a nearby fire extinguisher and taking off his goggles, he slowly worked a path out of this hell hole of a drug factory. Coming out of the entrance which he had blasted his way into with the SWAT tank, he spotted a nearby Stinger, and Tenpenny's fire truck peeling out. Luckily for him, the Stinger was unlocked, so CJ jumped in, hit the gas, and burnt rubber, trying to catch up to the fire truck.

He got there within several seconds. When he came within sight of the truck, he spotted Sweet hanging on the edge of the fire engine, his fingers clasped on the edge. Unfortunately, one of the cops following Tenpenny through his escape, had gotten out of his car, and started standing on Sweet's fingers. CJ could almost imagine the pain. Quickly, he gunned all the speed he had, and sped towards the fleeing fire engine. He managed to get under the vehicle just in time, as Sweet tumbled down into the Stinger, almost flipping it.

"C'mon bro! Peg his ass!" Sweet yelled. "I'll drive!"

They quickly swapped positions. CJ pulled out his M4 and with his five remaining clips, he began to pick off the policemen surrounding Tenpenny. One of the cops climbing up the ladder of the fire engine was killed by CJ's M4, and the other one on the other side suffered the same fate. Quickly scanning around, he spotted several police cars appearing behind the Stinger. Aiming at them, CJ sprayed at each of them until his clip went empty. Two of them were blown up and another's gas panel was struck by a stray shot.

"Ballas! Up ahead!" Sweet shouted to CJ as he gunned the car towards Tenpenny.

The two vehicles whistled by the Ballas throwing stuff onto the road, but a few of them got on bikes and gave chase. Quickly slamming his second-last clip into the M4, he managed to take the drivers of them out pretty easily, but that included a considerable amount of luck. As the last one fell out of his bike, yet another series of police cars appeared, chasing CJ and Sweet. CJ fired all he had at them. He burned through his last one-and-a-half clips of M4 ammo, and then started squirting them with SMG fire. Just when CJ thought he and Sweet just couldn't hang on any longer, they had what they wanted to happen. The fire truck lurched, and then lost control, spinning and smashing, then flipped over the bridge.

"Hey Sweet? I think he's dead," muttered Carl to his brother, lowering his SMG.

"Yeah, me too. I think that's the end of the line," replied Sweet.

Slowly, those two got out of the car, ignoring the police cars coming to check out Tenpenny's condition, and walked upwards to where Grove Street was.

**-End Flashback-**

CJ sighed, taking one last look at the dead bodies, and headed back inside his house.

**End Note: **Woot! Finally finished. What was said in that flashback of the last mission of San Andreas was mostly made up, as I haven't finished San Andreas yet, and pieced it together form what I heard from everybody. Oh yeah, and I'm sorry if that was a bit boring, and real action was what you wanted. Ah well. I'm tired out. Next chapter up soon.


	8. Reality Check

Tommy woke up in a shock. He had been having a dream of some sort. He couldn't remember it now, but he thought it involved something to do with Harwood on that fateful day back in 1971. Quickly forgetting the dream, he headed into the bathroom for a quick shower, and slipped on a black "Go Mambas" t-shirt with dark blue jeans. Once he was done, he sat down in his bed watching a bit of last night's replay gridiron match of Los Santos Rams versus the Carcer Seals.

After the Rams had forged ahead with a big driving touchdown and a field goal to grab the lead at half-time 13-6, Tommy snapped the TV shut, and went downstairs for a breakfast at the hotel restaurant. After he had finished eating, he grabbed his Uzi, jumped into the Banshee and drove off to Kenji's Casino. Considering that it was pretty early, the casino was deserted, apart from Asuka waiting for him.

"Well, I see you have come for another job, and just when I need it. But first, we must sort out our business cards again. You have come from Vice City, all the way here, leaving your empire there to take out the Cartel?" Asuka asked, browsing through a few pages.

"Yes. They have been trying to take me out in Vice City, and I heard that they're threatening Liberty City, which would be bad for me as well."

"I see. But you must not rival against the Yakuza, once we have helped you deal and take revenge on the Cartel. We Yakuza, we proud of our tradition, and we do not like getting stabbed in the back. I can help you get at the Cartel right at the moment. A congregation of Cartel at a little docking bay near Francis International Airport are escorting a package containing a heavy amount of SPANK to Vice City. The flight will depart in an hour. I've packed a heavy amount of firepower in the nearby Yakuza Stinger. Use that on the Cartel. A couple of men will assist you in killing the Cartel, but you will probably have to destroy the plane with the package."

Slowly, Tommy walked out of the casino, to do his second job for the Yakuza, in a way much like how his domination of Vice City had started. But now, all he needed to do was stop the Cartel.

Waving his hand to the two Yakuza sporting powerful M-16s, Tommy checked the trunk of the Yakuza Stinger, and discovered that it was almost overflowing of firepower. A couple of AK-47s, a modified M4 with a scope, two Colt Pythons, three Uzis, and a shotgun. Even some special rocket launcher that could be compressed just enough to fit inside a trunk had been squeezed inside. Taking the handguns and Uzis, Tommy placed them into the glove department of the car, and drove off. He arrived at the airport, and spent a few minutes looking for the target, before eventually spotting a group of Cartel waiting for the package to be delivered on a small jet. Tommy drove his Yakuza Stinger behind some nearby bushes; he grabbed the M4 from the trunk, and started picking off the Cartel patrolling the area. The main group of Cartel were scattered around the area where the plane was, while the rest were pacing around. All the guards fell before they knew what was happening, thanks to Tommy, and the two skilled Yakuza marksmen and their fire. Heaving the rocket launcher, he fired at a group of Cartel, and watched their brains get splattered out. This caused the Cartel to fire at where Tommy's position was, but they missed several shots. However, the jet lifted into the air, and started to fly off. Cursing, Tommy aimed his rocket launcher, trying to lead the jet, and fired. Missed.

Heaving the rocket launcher, he tried again. Missed. Firing most of his rockets, the jet was too quick, and evaded all of them. One rocket left. The jet was starting to fly in a straight line, and Tommy saw his chance. Confident of his skills, he put the jet in his sights, and fired. At first, the rocket looked as if it was missing. But then, at the last moment, it crunched into the jet, sending it exploding in a massive BOOM, and then spun down towards the ground. Giving a sight of relief, Tommy slung the launcher over his shoulder, and carried it back into the Yakuza Stinger, before driving off back to the Casino.

"What do you think they'll try next, bro?" asked CJ to Sweet.

"I don't know, but they just don't stop comin'. That's Ballas' assholes, man, that's what they'll do."

"Damn it. We could do with a recovery session after all that carnage two days ago." CJ sighed.

"Sure as hell. But with this new crap alliance with those Vietnamese, bro, I don't think we'll have a chance.

CJ gave another sigh, and slowly walked out of the house. He had ordered for a helicopter to be flown on top of his house, and it now looked much like a mansion, without the luxury interiors. His phone rang.

"Shit! CJ? CJ? Me and that blind Chinese leader is holed up in this building, a few blocks away from Caligula's Palace! Can you help us a bit?" came the worried voice of Ken Rosenberg.

"What the hell were you doing near the Mafia casino?" CJ yelled.

"I'll tell you later. Just get us outta here! You can see these Mafia guys trying to bust in."

Making an exasperated groan, CJ quickly ran up to the rooftop helicopter, got in, and flew off in the direction of the abandoned airfield which he had turned into quite the armoury. When he arrived, he jumped out of the helicopter, parking it on a landing pad, before going to grab a concealed M4 and MP5 that he always hid just in case there was trouble. Then, he jumped into the nearby Rustler that had just been built in with some nice missiles, and flew off.

As the Rustler temporarily dropped height, CJ could see a few Mafia men waiting outside with AK-47s and shotguns. The Rustler made a dive, and then CJ opened up with the Rustler's gun. The firepower made a mess of the Mafia men, and one missile finished off the rest. Parking the plane nearby, CJ grabbed his weapons, and sprinted for the building, treading over the Mafia bodies.

Heading inside, he found a lift, with two Mafia men inside it. Diving behind a wall, CJ pulled out his MP5, picking both of them off quickly with the powerful Uzi. As they dropped, he phoned Ken again. Almost immediately, he had an answer.

"Third floor. Watch your back, there's tons of those bastards crawling around!"

The elevator shuddered to a halt on the third floor. As soon as the door opened, CJ was ready, pumping lead into three Mafia guys waiting for him, before they could even shoot. Reloading both his weapons, he ran into another room, where he ducked behind a table, and managed to clean out the thugs in there as well. Finally, the next room was Ken and Woozie, holed up behind a table, with several Mafia bodies piled around the place. Ken was holding a Desert Eagle, which he must have found on the table, as there were several clips to go along with it as well.

"Thank god. I thought we were cooked," Ken muttered, trembling as his hands dropped the deadly pistol.

"Come on. We gotta get out of this place. You keep Woozie accompanied." CJ replied.

By now, several more Mafia soldiers had just come charging into the room, but they were quickly dropped by CJ's accurate fire and the occasional thump as Ken fired the Desert Eagle.

"Let's go." CJ said, and he sprinted for a door, with Ken and Woozie following after.

Dodging a spray of bullets, CJ cleared out another hallway of Mafia with his M4, methodically spraying his ammunition around. Finally, the entrance of the building was discovered. The problem, however, was that Rustler didn't have enough seats to hold all three of them.

"I'm staying here," CJ said.

"What the hell? Why?" Woozie asked.

"I'm giving those Mafia guys a hard time. You and Ken just get in the plane. Ken, you know how to fly these wings?"

"Yeah, uh, I think so. I've flown a helicopter before, so I should be able to." Ken replied.

"Just get yourself back to any place where you think is safe, and phone me when you get there, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

With that, CJ readied his MP5 and watched carefully for any Mafia that were lurking around. When he thought there was nobody to trouble him, he sneaked back onto the street to look around for a car to steal. A Bullet stopped nearby, and two Mafia guys got out. Quickly, CJ sprayed them down with his MP5, got into the flashy sports car, and floored it.

Unfortunately, CJ soon found out that he was the target of another ambush. Four vans full of Mafia came flying out on either side of the next road he was about to turn to. Luckily for CJ, the speed of the Bullet tore through one of the vans, sending it smashing into a wall. However, the ambush was not over yet. As the Bullet roared past another street, three Hotknifes came speeding around the corner and started pursuing him.

"Damn!" Carl muttered to himself.

The Bullet wasn't made for muscle matches, and even if it was, it couldn't stand a crash-and-bash session with the condition it was in, against three cars faster than it.

"Well, I'll have to outwit them," grumbled Carl.

Gunning the engine of the Bullet, he sped sharply into another street, managing to zip through two cars. The three pursuing cars followed him, swerving skilfully past the cars. They were obviously very good drivers, and they certainly knew how to handle a car.

"Time to add a little more juice to it," CJ continued. He thought he sounded like some random driving school guy. He hit the gas, towards a thick slope, which resembled like a ramp. He had used this jump to get out of sticky situations before, and he was confident, that could happen right now. But as he hit the ramp, the car took a slight turn, and started to spin.

One of the Hotknife cars had clipped him from the back. The Bullet did a 180 degree spin in the air, with the Hotknife following it. Cursing, CJ quickly grabbed his MP5 and allowing the Hotknife to draw next to him, he managed to shoot out the side windows, flipping out the driver and the Mafia thug next to him, probably a shooter. CJ wanted to switch cars, but it was too dangerous. Accelerating on, he managed to do a classic dummy that sent one of the Hotknifes crashing into a Walton going the other way, and finally, he threw off the last one with some neat cornering and a fast jump that took CJ over a building, landing on the other side, and effectively ending the chase.

"Thank you!" CJ yelled, before he sped off again to wait for Ken and Woozie.

It was bad enough with the Ballas. But now, maybe the Mafia had their own say on things.


	9. Trouble Never Stops Coming

**A/N: **OK, sorry if the end of that last chapter was bad, just was really tired and wanted to get it over and done with. Well, here's the next chapter. Oh yeah, and E-Z B, The Chronicler, thanks for your ideas. I think I might incorporate some of them into this story.

As Tommy got back from his job, driving back to Kenji's Casino, he discovered a roadblock parked with several Cartel Cruisers. Cartel men were parked all over the place, keeping lookouts. At least half of them had M-16s, while the others sported AK-47s. A lot of firepower, and it would be almost impossible to force a way through with this light Yakuza sports car.

"Gaijin? What are we going to do about those idiots over there?"

Tommy pulled out the rocket launcher and handed it to the Yakuza who had asked him the question.

"Well? Do you want to pull the trigger?" Tommy asked.

The man nodded. Aiming the rocket launcher at the group of Cartel, he fired. Several of the cruisers were either blown up, or flipped over, along with several Cartel men getting blown sky-high into the air.

Immediately, Tommy raced the Yakuza Stinger, taking his chances. As he sped towards the temporarily disorganised Cartel, he yelled at the Yakuza men to clear any threats to the car. The Stinger raced through the now-broken roadblock, and the remaining Cartel men opened fire, but were quickly taken down by the accurate bullets by the Yakuza marksmen. One of the Cartel Cruisers even gave chase, but Tommy pulled off a lazy U-turn and outfoxed the Cruiser back to the Casino. He was surprised to see Asuka, Kenji, Ray and several more Yakuza men all holding M4s, waiting for them to come back.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked.

"The Cartel. They're hitting us pretty hard. Here's your money, Tommy. Quickly, get it to the bank, and then come back in half an hour. Use this car, so the Cartel won't notice you." Ray said, handing him a briefcase full of green and showing him a Cheetah. Getting inside, Tommy drove off towards Liberty City Bank to deposit his 4000 of cash.

When he was done, and had arrived back at the Casino, Ray was waiting for him. Motioning for Tommy to follow, they headed upstairs to a normal Bell Maverick.

"We have to send you to Carcer City for a while. It's too dangerous here for us to continue any further for a while."

"What? But that's like the Cartel's main operational city." Tommy yelled.

"Yes, it is, but only recently, they have managed to retake the city. They are still trying to regain order, especially after that Lionel Starkweather person made snuff films with the city. Come on, get in. We don't have much time."

Tommy jumped into the helicopter, and seconds later, it began flying over for the long, long trip to Carcer City. Tommy, feeling like he needed a rest, closed his eyes for a while.

Tommy woke up a while later, and he could see the gloomy city of Carcer in the distance. But as he watched, he could hear fire from below. Just then, three bullets clanged into the belly of the Maverick, and the helicopter began to lose height. Several more bullets smashed into the undercarriage, and one struck the pilot in the shoulder.

"Oh shit!" Tommy yelled.

Quickly telling the pilot to get his wounds dressed temporarily, Tommy took the controls. But it was too late to land in a proper area. The helicopter landed on a patch of bush. Cursing, Tommy got the pilot out, and using the first-aid kit to dress his wounds, decided to try and get him to the nearest hospital. But first, he phoned Ray.

"Hello? Ray? Some idiots shot down our helicopter. It's operational, but out of gas. The pilot and I are going to the hospital to check out his wounds," Tommy said.

"OK! But watch your back. Cartel is crawling all over the city. Plus all those other gangs mucking around. We'll need to cover-up your arrival like a business trip. Can you phone somebody you know that can come to Carcer City here?"

"Sure. See you around, Ray. If I make it out alive."

Tommy closed the call, and started dialling a number. This time, it was the phone number of an old colleague he hadn't seen for years.

The Rustler landed nearby. Ken and Woozie got out, taking their stuff into a house, where they could lay low and phone CJ. But as Ken pulled out his cell phone, it rang, and he answered it almost immediately.

"Hi, Ken. Remember me?" came a familiar voice on the other side.

"Tommy!" Ken yelled, bewildered.

"Yes, that's me. What have you been doing over these last four years, after in '88 you left for some rehab?"

"I tried phoning you a while ago, but some goddamn prick slammed it down!"

"Sorry, I bet it was one of my rather…paranoid guards while I was taking out some Haitians. Listen, you want to go to Carcer City with me to take care of some business?"

"Business? But…but…the last time that happened, we almost got killed! Damn it!"

"Look, the Cartel is crawling everywhere. What did you expect back in Vice? Sonny and the mob tried to get us in, and they had their fat asses pushed off the bench and into the sea? Come on, Ken, be reasonable. I got an old associate from the old days in the Forelli Mafia; got betrayed by Sonny like me, he broke away from them about fifteen years ago. He'll get you some place to lie low. Just keep me company for a while."

As Ken digested this, all sorts of things ran through his mind.

"Well, I'll think about it. Where are you?" he asked.

"My helicopter pilot and I are stuck somewhere in the Carcer countryside. Shot down by the Cartel." Tommy's voice came over the phone.

"But don't worry. If you can, book a flight to Carcer, and phone me, and I'll meet you at the airport. See you around."

The phone call was shut before Ken could reply.

"Damn." Ken said.

"Who was that?" Woozie asked

"An old business friend. We fell out when I came over here to Las Venturas to get rehab from my coke addictions. He wants me to go to Carcer City."

Woozie's jaw dropped. But then he, unusually for him, spluttered:

"He wants you to go to a goddamn city which has only just been reopened after being the setting for a snuff film, and yet is still crawling with those stinking Columbian Cartel?"

Ken shrugged. Then he said:

"I'm phoning CJ."

After quickly telling CJ about their location, Ken headed into the fridge for a bottle of wine and two glasses. Pouring one for himself, and offering one for Woozie, but Woozie declined.

While he drank, Ken thought about this offer from Tommy. He could do with somewhere else to go. It got boring living in Tommy's mansion in Vice City, despite the luxury of everyday life, and now it was getting boring here as well. He was glad when he left Caligula's Palace, that hellhole that stupid Salvatore Leone had been putting him through. Yet, it was too dangerous. He remembered the calls Sonny made threatening him and his family, and that fateful day where he had hid in a room and watched Tommy ruthlessly slaughter around thirty Mafia men, Sonny, and that insecure bastard Lance. He watched Tommy yell at Lance, spraying his sorry ass with M60 fire. Then when Sonny arrived with his Ruger, Tommy killed him as well.

Ken's thoughts were put off line as CJ came inside, knocking on the door. When Ken let him in, CJ gave a sigh of relief.

"What happened, Carl?" Woozie asked.

"Mafia idiots ambushed me. I stole a Bullet and headed off with it, but I got ambushed by four Mafia vans. When I went through them, three Hotknifes came after me, and I had to shake them off."

"Well, I guess we have another problem." Woozie said.

"The Mafia are going try and peg us out." CJ muttered.

"Well, do you reckon we should take some of them out? A first strike?" CJ asked.

"I'm not going to." Ken muttered.

"Then Ken, you may as well go to Carcer. Because once we go to hitting them, it's going to be difficult for you."

Ken thought for a moment, and nodded.

"I'll see you two around-if I make it out of Carcer alive." Ken said, before he jumped into the Idaho he parked nearby, and driving towards the airport. When he arrived there, he booked a flight for tomorrow, the 10:30am flight to Carcer. Once that was done, he gave a sigh of relief, and went off for one more night of sleep.

Tommy and the pilot watched as three gang members with yellow smiler face masks sneaked nearby. Tommy remembered the description of them from a guide he had read of Carcer City's criminal and gang underworld. They were ideally, the Smileys; the mental and psycho gang members more likely to be in the mental asylum rather than lurking around the city. Motioning for the pilot to be quiet, Tommy sneaked up on one of them, and punched him in the head hard, knocking him unconscious. Then, dodging and weaving, Tommy used his Colt Python to take down the other two pretty easily. Luckily, they dropped Colt Pythons and Colt-45s: important guns that Tommy would need if he was going to survive. Seeing the hospital up ahead, he and the pilot quickly ran into it, to get then Yakuza man some treatment. As the pilot was taken to, Tommy walked outside, and looked for some place to lay low.

**End note: **OK, the description for what the Smileys (Manhunt) have as weapons is inaccurate, but I didn't want Tommy to run out of Colt Python ammo, so I made it so Smileys carry Pythons as well. Oh yeah, and sorry if this chapter was a bit lacking of action. Next chapter up soon. Please keep on reviewing!


	10. Mob problems

Ken woke up, all in a blur. He reached out for his glasses, and put them on. Heading into the kitchen, he found Woozie already there. As he grabbed a sandwich from the fridge, he began to pack his stuff. Not much, just a sports bag. However, he also hid a silenced Colt 45 hidden inside a large box of biscuits, in case things went wrong.

Waving a goodbye to Woozie, he drove to the airport to catch his flight, check-in and such. As he watched the city of Las Venturas and its magnificent casinos as the Juank Air flight took off. Several hours later, the flight finally landed at Carcer City Airport. Ken couldn't believe how disorganised the place was. There were barely any hangars, and the planes were all scattered around the place without being sorted. Rockstar Airlines, Juank Air, and a few others were all there. Shaking his head, Ken grabbed his carriage, and lugged it out to the arrivals. When he came out into a rather gloomy looking-room, he immediately bet to himself that this place was lucky to even be a city.

Looking around half-deserted room, Ken could spot a man he hadn't seen for four years. Tommy Vercetti.

"Tommy! Over here!" Ken yelled.

Tommy turned around and saw the same face, those same glasses. He grinned and waved over to his ex-lawyer.

"So, Ken, what's been going on? What's happened in Las Venturas over these last few years?" Tommy asked, once they were in a taxi.

"Just some rehab, as I said, and then that punk-ass Mafia boss Salvatore Leone made me work in his stupid dump of a "casino". And after I helped robbing it by providing info for the heist, I quit the casino. But I actually, would have preferred to stay in Las Venturas. The only problem for me in Venturas was that those Mafia people were still trying to get me."

Tommy noticed Ken was shivering.

"What happened?"

"I and this Chinese Triad dude got chased into a building by Mafia, and we had to get one of my mates, a black guy who's done me a few favours, to come and save us. His name's Carl Johnson. All of that happened yesterday. And that's why I actually decided to come here. Well, Tommy, what's been going with you?"

"I'll tell you later, but our taxi seems to be in trouble." Tommy said, noticing that the taxi had stopped and several ominous-looking men were running towards it.

"Oh shit." Ken grumbled.

"When I tell you to go, jump out of the car, ok?" Tommy asked him.

Ken looked at him, and said: "Ok."

As the men approached the car, Tommy had a closer look at them, and noticed that they wore masks. _Innocentz_, he thought. They were a reasonably dangerous gang separated into two divisions: a regular on, the Skullz, and the more powerful ones, the Babyfaces, which all the men here were. Two carried powerful sawn-off shotguns and two carried revolvers.

"You got a piece?" Tommy asked.

Ken nodded, pulling out his Colt 45. He didn't want to use it, but he didn't want to get killed either.

The gang members opened the door, pointing their weapons at the driver.

"This is a robbery, fool. Hand over the money," they said.

But before the driver could, Tommy intervened.

"Do you realise, that behind you, a group of Hoods are sneaking up on you?" Tommy asked.

The five gang members turned around. Immediately, Tommy punched one in the head, and kicked another one. Pulling out his Colt Python, he fired and capped one more, before quickly head-butting the last one.

"Run!" yelled Tommy to Ken.

They sprinted off, trying to lose the gang members.

"Hey Tommy? What about my luggage?" Ken asked.

"Don't worry. That taxi driver was the guy I told you about, my old colleague from Liberty. He'll sort a place for us to lie low, before we can get on hitting the Cartel." Tommy answered.

The gang members were up on their feet now, and chasing after Tommy and Ken. Luckily, they were lousy shots, and several of their shotgun blasts ended up hitting targets a lot further away from them. Pivoting around, Tommy fired his Colt Python at one, and dropped him with a well-placed bullet straight in the face. Ken managed a lucky shot that struck another in the leg. Seeing the accuracy of the two men, the remaining two Innocentz retreated back.

"Phew." Ken sighed.

"Hey, Ken! Where'd you learn to shoot like that?" Tommy asked.

"Just learnt it somehow when I was trying to hold off the Mafia guys charging into the room I was hiding in only yesterday. I found a Desert Eagle on the table and managed to kill about ten Mafia thugs running in.

"Good work." Tommy patted Ken on the shoulder, hoping to bolster Ken's confidence a bit.

"Come on, I'll page my mate, and he'll get us a place to lay low."

Jamie Evans watched as his old friend from the days working for Sonny, Tommy Vercetti, and the other man charge out of the taxi, and run off. Immediately, Jamie snapped the door shut, locked it, and floored off to give them some cover. Grabbing a concealed Colt 45, he watched carefully as Tommy and the other man flee, and watched Tommy turn around and peg one straight in the face. This surprised Jamie. Tommy was an awesome shot now. He must have been practising ever since he got out of jail. He remembered the Harwood Butcher incident that had got Tommy into prison for fifteen years, and remembered how he had been the driver for Tommy to escape. Just as he contemplated these thought, his Sumo Wordman rang. Sure enough, it was Tommy. Driving over to them, he gave a greeting. He and Tommy had already chatted before they came to pick the other man up.

"Ken? This is Jamie. He was my driver for the Harwood Butcher incident, but he got set up as well, and received five years. Jamie, this is Ken Rosenberg."

The two men shook hands.

"C'mon, Tommy, Ken, we gotta get you to a place safe. There's a little house I have. Three bedrooms, a kitchen and a small living room. We'll go lie low there for the night.

CJ was exhausted. He thought that once all this stuff had settled down with his hood, after he had killed Smoke and Grove Street had taken over much of Idelwood that life would be less hectic than it was when he had just come back. Dressing a black T-shirt, he headed outside to where the Bullet he had stolen yesterday was parked. Getting in, he drove off towards his airfield at Verdant Meadows, where he remembered he had left the Maverick from yesterday. When he arrived there, he stored the Bullet into one of the three garages he had installed there, and jumped into his Maverick, at the same place which he left it yesterday. But as he headed in, he heard the sound of a gun thump into him, and before he could say anything, everything went black.

Woozie paced around the Triad HQ. He was reminiscing the events of the last few months: from right when he first met CJ in the countryside, where Carl had showed him his talent, he had given Carl jobs, and then there was the bank heist, al that happened without flaw. But now the things look dangerous; the Da Nang Boys were getting easily kept to bay, thanks to the Triads and their superior weapons. But the worrying thing was the alliance between the Ballas and Da Nang Boys, and plus the fact that the Mafia had once again turned their attention on the Triads. Absentmindedly, he searched around in his pocket for his mobile phone, and when he found it, with traditional routine for a blind person, he twiddled around with it, until he was sure of the correct number.

Static. Giving a sigh of frustration, Woozie waited. Hearing voices, he gave a sigh of relief. But when he heard them properly, he wasn't very happy.

"Yo, what's this asshole got? A mobile phone," one voice said.

"Don't answer it. It might be one of his punk-ass friends wanting nothin' to do with the mob," the other voice implied.

The phone was snapped shut. Cursing, Woozie tucked his phone away, and wondered what had happened to CJ.

_The Mafia_, he thought. They probably ambushed CJ again. Hoping that he was at least okay, Woozie organised for several of his Triads to search for CJ, or where he was.


	11. Against All Odds

What the hell was that? A stick. No, a hammer. No, a club. What the hell's going on? Carl thought to himself.

Then everything flicked back on to him. He woke up in a dark and gloomy room. There was a small table next to him, but apart from that, it was deserted. Slowly picking himself up, his head rather sore, CJ went to open the door. It was locked. Cursing, CJ kicked the door, and started walking around, looking for something to do. As he inspected the cracks on the walls of the room, he heard a click of a key, and the door opened. Two Mafia men holding guns came in.

"You're awake. Get up, you no-good gangster ass. We're taking you to see the Don," one of them said.

Grumpily, CJ obliged, and they headed off. But as one of the guards went to open another door, CJ punched one in the face and then followed it up with a knee in the stomach, before seizing the guard's gun and diving out of the way as the other one fired at him. The bullets missed him, barely, and CJ turned around, aiming the rifle at the guard, and shooting him in the face. Then turning around, he shot the other guard, now unconscious on the floor. Reloading his weapon, CJ noticed that it was a .22, rather weak, but it had plenty of penetrating power, maybe even more than a Colt .45, which was the weapon the other guard had dropped. There was also a silencer, which CJ wondered why the guard had even put on.

He reloaded his weapons, and grabbed the guard's key card before he headed into the next room. Nobody. He continued on, working his way through this place, which seemed to be a massive mansion of some sort that included jail cells. However, as Carl crept into the next room, he found three guards holding AK-47s.

"Damn," Carl whispered to himself.

Readying his Colt 45 with silencer on, he fired at one of the guards, and hit him in the back of the head. CJ had to contain a laugh at the Guards and their stupidity as they spun around, and saw nothing. Readying his .22 rifle again, he managed to pick both of them off with well-placed headshots; although CJ thought that his shots might have attracted more attention.

Switching the .22 for the AK-47 and ammo that the three guards had dropped, CJ headed up these stairs, and into another room. This time, CJ expected tougher resistance. Five men were all hanging around the room, three with AK-47s, and two with MP5s. Plenty of firepower to pick up, if he made it through this room. But where was the exit anyway? Still, CJ preferred to clear up a whole massive mansion of Mafia rather than find the exit, only to get ambushed by the Mafia right at the end, like it had happened to him yesterday. His thoughts were interrupted by a bullet striking the wall right next to where he was hiding. Thinking he had been discovered, CJ crept back behind the door, but he heard the Mafia men laughing, and assumed they were just having a target shot. Heading back up the stairs, and waiting for the Mafia men to finish their target shooting, CJ dived out and gave them some proper target shooting. He fired his AK-47, aiming at the men slowly and methodically. Two were taken down by his fire, before he rolled into cover. Taking a few seconds to wait to see if any Mafia came by to find him, he peeked around the corner again, and capped a couple more with skilfully placed shots with his silenced Colt 45, before switching to his AK-47 and pumping lead into the last one.

Picking up the powerful MP5s, and the AK-47 ammo, he continued upstairs, searching for some kind of rooftop. Going into the next room guns blazing, he took down the two men placed at the door with his AK-47, and cleared out the small number of Mafia. From then on, it was charge in, shoot, take cover, shoot more, pick up ammo and then rinse and repeat. CJ cleared out room after room of Mafia, until he finally went through a hallway that looked to be going up to the helipad. As he headed up, he spotted Salvatore Leone and two of his bodyguards with M4s go running up to the helicopter, and try to fly off. CJ charged out o the roof, and fired a burst with his AK-47, and managed to take out the two guards hanging on each side of the helicopter shooting at him, but the helicopter managed to stay intact.

Carl sighed. He needed to go all the way through those rooms again and find some exit. But as he was about to head back downstairs, he noticed another Bell Maverick waiting for him. CJ sprinted for it, and found that it was his helicopter with his mobile phone on the seat, but it seemed to be rigged with a bomb or something, as it had wires strewn all over it. So CJ grabbed his phone, and ran back down into the Mafia fortress. After blasting his way through several more rooms full of Mafia reinforcements, he spotted a nearby Sentinel, which was unlocked, and so he got in, and drove off.

But the Mafia still weren't finished. About twelve Mafia Sentinels came flying out from nowhere and started giving chase. Once again, Carl was in a sticky situation, with having to outrun and outdrive cars that were both faster, and had better handling and control than he had. The best bet for him was to hold off the Mafia Sentinels until they reached Triad turf, where the Triads and their AK-47s could pick some Mafia off. But that was still a while to go, so CJ prepared himself. He sped off along the streets, using his corners and turns well. But the fact was that the Mafia Sentinels were outgunning the lone Sentinel car in every department, except the driver, in which was the only chance CJ had. He needed to test out how good drivers those Mafia were. If they were ace ones, he would have a tough time shaking them off. But if they were close to average, Carl had a chance of tricking them into Triad turf. As he sped off through another street, he tempted the Mafia Sentinels into trying to sandwich him, by throwing a couple of fake turns as if he was in two minds. The Sentinels took the bait. Half of them raced off the other direction that CJ was heading, in order to try and sandwich him.

Grinning to himself, CJ forged on, speeding along the street. Other cars were still driving normally, oblivious to the high-speed chase involving one singular car against several mob cars. Carl was hitting 120 kilometres an hour constantly. Then he could spot the six Mafia Sentinels heading towards him. Peering into the rear windscreen, CJ could spot the other six tailing him sharply. Carl slowed the pace a bit, but as they got nearer, he once again hit the accelerator. It was going to be a head-on collision followed up by a six-way rear-end. But at the last moment, CJ pulled out a sharp U-turn, and several of the Sentinels collided with a sickening crunch.

CJ had a bit of time now to lose the Mafia Sentinels while they were trying to untangle themselves and reorganise. He burnt rubber for the nearest Pay 'N Spray, which was handily placed nearby. But as he was about to drive n, he realised he had no money. But luckily enough for him, the auto-repair men gave the spray to him for free, as they didn't want an army of Mafia Sentinels charging into their shed, and that they knew CJ well, since he called in often and gave them an extra tip sometimes. CJ sighed, then picked up his cell phone and phoned Woozie. He had just decimated a massive mansion of the Mafia from the inside.

Tommy woke up at dawn. He couldn't get to sleep last night, thinking about what was going to be like in Carcer. The city was in chaos, the police and SWAT teams still fighting gangs and the Cartel starting to scatter all around. Even in the house at night, Tommy could hear the faint shots of a Colt 45, or the rapid-fire of an Uzi or M16, a few screams as the citizens of Carcer City wondered what would happen next. He slipped on his Hawaiian t-shirt that he had worn ever since he had arrived in Vice City six years ago, and went into the kitchen to look for something to eat. Jamie was asleep on the couch, TV remote control in his hand. Shaking his head, Tommy grabbed a sandwich from the fridge, and ate it in two bites.

When Ken and Jamie woke up about two hours later, Tommy had been watching TV, flicking through random channels.

"Hey Tommy, there's this guy who's one of my mates, he's a Cartel member and he's been feeding info to the newly-installed police that doesn't seem to be as corrupt as the old one was. But the problem is, the Cartel's found him out and he's being detained in this house. Rescue him, and we could have those Colombians in a load of trouble." Jamie said.

"Yeah, okay, but let me have an exploration of this grubby city. It shouldn't be too long either." Tommy replied, before grabbing his Colt Python and heading outside.

As Tommy drove along in the Perennial that was parked outside the safe house, he saw a couple of Cartel Cruisers turn and begins to tail him.

"Oh man." Tommy muttered.

He wondered if the Cartel were the ones who shot down the copter, and if they knew he was in this city. Whatever the answer was, it was there to be found out.

**End note: **Sorry if it finished up early, just trying to set a limit of between 1200-1800 words per chapter. Next Chapter up soon! Please keep on reviewing!


	12. A Little Extreme

The two Cartel Cruisers were veering, following the Perennial at every turn. Tommy decided to let them be, and readied his Tec-9 in case things got any nastier than what was going on now.

"Now to find the Cartel base." Tommy said to himself.

The Perennial headed through the streets, the Cartel Cruisers following closely behind. Tommy pretended that he hadn't noticed them. But as he crossed an intersection, he pulled off a sharp U-turn, and sped back the other way. As the Cartel Cruisers followed, Tommy slid down the window, and opened up with a big drive-by. The Cartel Cruisers were too busy focusing on turning that the bullets slammed into the side of one vehicle, and blew it up. Surprised with the lucky shot that must have connected with the gas panel, Tommy sped off. The other car gave chase. Damn! Tommy thought to himself. The Perennial had some decent features, but the Cruiser was made for chasing and ramming. It had better durability, acceleration and handling.

But just as Tommy was starting to get nervous for a plan, his hands closed in on something rather unexpected in the glove department: a couple of remote grenades pinned to a detonator. He grinned. Checking for any other firepower, he found none, so he shoved his Colt Python in his pocket and slowly, unpinned the bomb, and dropped it on the driver seat. Hitting the gas, he accelerated along, getting the cruiser close enough to catch the mainstream of his little surprise. Just as if it looked the Cartel Cruiser would win, Tommy bailed. This surprised the Cartel driver, but he had to keep on moving forwards, having built up too much forward momentum to turn, otherwise he would spin out. The now-driverless Perennial continued to speed on, as the Cruiser tried to turn, but slid out of control, and towards the Perennial. Giving a one last mock 'sayonara' sign, Tommy detonated the bomb in the Perennial. Watching both vehicles blow up, Tommy wiped a drop of sweat that had developed on his brow, and went off to find a suitable car to jack.

He found on later. A regular Kuruma, nice sturdy car with good acceleration and handling, useful enough for escapes. Driving along, he eventually found the location to the Cartel base. It was a house, but there were four guards at the entrance, all with AK-47s, and two Cartel Cruisers as a roadblock. Further in, there were at least twenty guards scattered around the house, all holding what looked to be M4s or shotguns. It was going to be a difficult escape. The only up side was that killing the guards at the entrance without attracting any other Cartel was easy, as the entrance of the house wasn't too close to the house itself. Tommy steadied his Colt Python, trying a four-way path, until he could point from one target to another quickly and efficiently.

Tommy opened fire. With his practice and accuracy, he pegged the four guards pretty quickly, although two started firing everywhere before he killed them. Immediately, Tommy crept up to the two Cartel Cruisers forming a roadblock. The doors were open, and luckily, Tommy found a Cartel outfit in one of them. Tommy quickly changed into the Cartel shirt, with his regular one underneath. Grabbing the AK-47s of the guards, and dragging their bodies away, he headed on into the house.

The important thing was to make sure he made everybody know that he was a part of the guards, not a man trying to push them out of an operation. He headed in, AK-47 in hand. A few of the Cartel men gave him strange looks as he headed through the door of the house. Inside was another load of Cartel standing around, doing nothing. They all carried MP5s. Tommy walked past them, and through another room. In that room, stood two Cartel guarding the door into presumably, another room, both of them with dual-MP5s. Tommy hid from them, and pulled out his Colt 45 with a silencer. He fired two shots, aiming carefully for the head. Both of the guards dropped without a whimper. Tommy dragged their bodies under a nearby table, grabbed their MP5s and their key-card, and opened the door.

As Tommy guessed, the former Cartel leader was there. There were several bruises on his forehead and a scar developed on his arm. But before the man could say anything, Tommy asked him:

"Do you know Jamie Evans?"

The man nodded, and then asked:

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm one of Jamie's former friends in the days of the Mafia. I've come to get you out of here. I'm just wearing this Cartel outfit as a disguise."

The man nodded again.

"Okay. I'm Mike Jenson. Let's get out of here."

Tommy handed him the MP5 he had, and they headed off. But as they readied themselves for a hail of gunfire, Mike said:

"Hey, do you want to try something?"

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.

"There's an explosive room of gas at the bottom of this house. We could set that thing to blow and BOOM! A load of Cartel dead."

"Well, at least change into these clothes." Tommy replied.

A minute later, the two disguised men were sprinting down to the bottom of the house, where large tankers of gas stood. After sneaking up and killing the two Cartel standing there, they walked into the room.

"Just a small amount of firepower can set this thing to blow. You got anything?" Mike asked.

Tommy took out his remaining remote grenade, and dropped it on the floor of the room. Then, they headed back up to the entrance of the house, trying to stay as calm as they could. As they headed out to the Kuruma that was still parked nearby, they took off their Cartel disguises, tossed them on the road, before Tommy casually activated the detonator, and watched the house blow up.

"C'mon, let's get back to Jamie's place before we attract any more attention." Tommy said.

With that, the Kuruma sped off.

It was a relief to be back in the hood, after the hellish massacre of the Mafia mansion. CJ chatted with his fellow OG members, spent time mucking around eating fast food, and went of the gym a couple of times.

But Carl got back into the action a few days later. The Vagos were making a massive attack on Aztecas turf, something they had probably been stocking up for at least a month. It was a pretty big scale of attack, with what seemed good organisation. Two-pronged attacks were made with several men using Uzis and M4s, followed up by a support and demolition team of three men with rocket launchers.

CJ got into his newly-bought helicopter, and he flew up onto a rooftop where he could easily spot the warring gangs. Pulling out his PSG-1, he aimed at several Vagos firing at the Aztecas, popping their heads with nicely-placed headshots. The Vagos could just watch as their men had their heads blown off by powerful sniper rounds, and their ground offensive capped off. Just as the last Vagos fell, CJ received a call from Sweet.

"Damn! That Vagos attack I think was only a decoy! They've kidnapped Cesar or something!"

Carl cursed. The war was not over yet. Along with the Ballas and the Da Nang Boys, they had the Vagos, _and _the Mafia.

Shaking his head, Carl reloaded his PSG-1, and flew back to his house.

**End note: **Another short chapter finished, oh, and it MIGHT be a while before this story is updated any more. I'll consider it. Thanks for all the reviews and keep on reviewing too!


	13. One Last Push

CJ packed an M4 assault rifle, a Desert Eagle and an MP5; a classic pack that he had used whenever he could get his hands on those weapons. He set off towards Vagos turf, trying to look for a place that might hold Cesar. His best bet was probably a mansion of some sort. Crawling with Vagos all around. But maybe they were still trying to sort out where they could hold Cesar captive. But as CJ took a turn, he spotted a convoy of three vans driving along the street. They must've been an organisation of some sort. Pulling up near them in his Greenwood, Carl noticed that the drivers wore yellow; the Los Santos Vagos gang colour. Hopefully Cesar was in one of these vans. Readying his Desert Eagle, he pulled up next to one of them, opened the window, and fired. The powerful .50 bullet smashed through the side window, and blew the driver's head off. Quickly switching to his MP5, he prepared himself for a crash and bash.

Surely enough, the other two vans came charging towards him, the drivers pulling out Tec-9s. The Vagos in the back all jumped out with Dual Micro-SMGs, taking the chance that they could take out CJ's car before they got run over. Well, they weren't going to take chances like that against me, Carl thought. Driving the Greenwood towards the firing Vagos and shoving his weapons into his pockets, Carl bailed out just as the first of a stream of bullets struck the car. CJ aimed his M4 at the drivers of the vans and pegged both of them out with headshots. Then, running for the back of the vans, he hurriedly found one of the vans with Cesar unconscious in it. Diving for cover behind another van from the fire being issued by the Vagos, he ducked and like so many times before, slowly waxed a couple, before sprinting off for the van where Cesar was in, driving off from a hail of bullets.

But when Carl got back, there was once again, chaos on the streets. A riot, like when Tenpenny got let off for being a corrupt cop. But this time, it was the Ballas, Vagos and Da Nang Boys causing the chaos. They were firing their weapons everywhere, hitting stray people. People were running around screaming, as everywhere, the place was being turned into a hellhole. It was the second time in weeks that this had happened, and Carl hoped it would be the same result.

Shaking his head, CJ gunned the van across the street, swerving out of the way of a few bullets, managing to get in just in time. Grabbing the still unconscious Cesar, he carried him inside, where thankfully Kendl was inside.

"What happened with Cesar?" Kendl cried, immediately rushing to help her boyfriend.

"Get some first-aid. I'll call Sweet for some help."

Then, he packed his M4, SMG, and Desert Eagle, called Sweet to get home, and prepared himself for a last fight.

Tommy and Mike arrived back at Jamie's house without too many problems. Just as they headed up the steps of the house, Tommy's phone rang. It was Asuka.

"The Cartel is retreating. There's been a considerable decrease in the amount of Cartel we've noticed around Fort Staunton. I think it's the time for you to go back to Vice City. The Yakuza have booked a flight for you to fly to Liberty one more time, for us to say thanks," she said.

"Okay, that's cool, Asuka. Can I get a few of my mates to come? We're going to finish the Cartel off in Vice City once and for all!" Tommy replied.

"Yes. I will see you in a few hours."

Just then, Jamie opened the door.

"What's up, Tommy?" he asked.

"Nothing, but do you want to go back with me and Ken to Vice City to finish the Cartel there off?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, that's cool. Mike will want to as well, I bet." Jamie replied.

For a moment, there was silence. Then, Tommy said:

"Let's go."

And the three of them, plus Ken, jumped into the Kuruma, and drove off to Carcer Airport.

After several more hours, the jet landed on the much newer airstrips of the Francis International Airport, a relief for Tommy and Ken, who were glad to be out of the gloomy city of Carcer. The Yakuza had organised them a Yakuza Stinger as well, which Tommy was really impressed about, seeing the organisation the Yakuza had. After a quick joyride where the driver sped his way through the subway, they reached Asuka's condo, where the two Kasens and Ray were waiting for them.

"Look, son, I can say nothing but that you kicked the shit out of those drug asses." Ray said when Tommy got close enough.

"Well done, Tommy. You are one of the first gaijin that hasn't offered anything but disappointment. You have a truly strong mind and personality. Well done." Kenji said.

"Thank you, Tommy. Although we have helped you, you have definitely helped us. With the retreat of the Cartel, we can retake some of the turf we have been losing a bit since the Cartel arrived in Liberty ten years ago. Here's your payment." Asuka handed over a heavy briefcase of money, which was 10000.

"No, you can keep it. I have to thank all of you for helping me get those stupid drug dealers out of my operations. Not that I have drug business, but it's good for somebody to help me get these guys out of business."

After waving their goodbyes, they drove off to Francis International to book a flight back to Vice City.

Getting back to Vice City at nearly midnight, Tommy led Mike and Jamie to Sunshine Autos, where there were several guestrooms whenever Tommy needed to go to sleep there. As they were driving their borrowed Admiral, Ken was excitedly muttering to himself.

"Oh my god, I can believe hardly anything's changed! Remember what it was like back at the mansion Tommy?" Ken asked.

"Wait till we get to the showroom, Ken." Tommy said, giving a wry smile.

It wasn't too far to the car showroom, where all his classy rides were. A Sentinel, Deluxo and Sabre Turbo on the bottom floor, and a Sandking and a Hotring Racer on the top. In the garages, the bullet-proof, collision-proof and fire-proof Admiral that he had stolen from Diaz, a nice silver PCG-600, and fireproof Banshees, Cheetahs and Infernuses.

Once everybody had settled to sleep, Tommy got into his bed, ignoring Ken's snoring, and waiting for tomorrow. The preliminaries had finished. Now the real battle was about to begin.

**End note: **Sorry, no action in this chapter. Just readying for the last chapter of this story. Please review, and E-Z-B, thank you for your comments.


	14. Breaking the Alliance

CJ woke up after a quick nap. He could hear the fire in the distance, the chaos of the second massive gang war to hit the area in two weeks. Los Santos was one screwed-up place at the moment, but unlike five years ago, Carl wanted to stay. His hood had grown stronger, his respect had increased, and overall, his life had improved dramatically. But all that hard work was going to be put to the test. Picking up his three most reliable weapons, he headed into the living room where Cesar and Sweet were both beefing up on their weapons. Once they were all armed to the teeth, Cesar and Sweet with AK-47s and dual sawn-off shotguns, plus dense body armour and four grenades each, and Carl with an M4, Desert Eagle and dual-SMGs, and three grenades, they headed outside.

"Ok, here's the plan. Cesar, you and Sweet go around to Aztecas turf, connecting to Ballas turf. I'll muck around here. Every thirty minutes, we'll-" Carl's plan was disrupted by a bullet barely missing Cesar's head.

"Holy shit! They're here! LOCK AND LOAD!" Cesar yelled.

A spray of bullets struck the Ballas guy who was stupid enough to try and take a peg shot at them.

"Well, I guess we'll have to stick together." Carl said.

They ran across the street, pretty quickly for people absolutely armed from head to toe. A group of Ballas were blown away by one of Sweet's grenades, and Cesar blew off four Vagos and their heads with his dual sawn-off shotguns.

"You want some of this, YOU KIDNAPPING BASTARDS!" Cesar yelled.

Meanwhile, the Triads and the Da Nang Boys were having their own gang battle. The Triads were absolutely blowing away the Da Nang Boys with their powerful AK-47s, and pools of blood were lying around. Even Woozie was there, M4 in his hand, spraying at where his men were telling him to. He wasn't doing too badly either.

Meanwhile, Tommy woke up in his room in Sunshine Autos. Ken was just dressing, fidgeting and murmuring to himself. When he saw Tommy's eyes flicker open, he said:

"Morning, Tommy."

"Hi Ken. You know if Mike and Jamie are up yet?" Tommy asked.

"Don't think they are."

"Well, wake them up. I'm showing them my mansion before we go hit the Cartel." Tommy said.

Both of them got dressed, and they knocked on the doors of Mike and Jamie's doors. The four of them got into the everything-proof Admiral in the garage, and drove off towards Vercetti Estate.

When they got there, Colonel Cortez was waiting for them, M4 in hand.

"Tommy, my friend! And how was your trip to Liberty City?" Cortez asked.

"Ah, it was ok, Colonel. These two men here. This is Jamie, one of my old friends, and this is Mike, Jamie's friend. And I presume you remember Ken Rosenberg?" Tommy asked the Colonel.

'Let's go inside, Jamie. I'll show you around before we get to taking out the Cartel." Tommy said.

Meanwhile this was happening; three Squallo speedboats with four Columbian Cartel members in each of them were cruising towards the back pier of Vercetti Estate. Two of them carried bombs, while the rest carried M16 assault rifles. They sped along from the Shark base they had overtaken a week ago.

Tommy and Jamie were walking around the newly-painted mansion that was now black, when they heard gunshots in the distance.

"Holy!" Tommy gasped.

He ran off quickly, and returned with a chrome shotgun and an M4. Handing the shotgun to Jamie, he yelled:  
"Follow me!"

The two of them sprinted off downstairs.

Twelve Cartel men were jumping off the Squallo II boats, M16s blazing. They had killed a couple of Vercetti men already.

But Tommy, and Jamie, both very accurate shooters, blew all of them, including the bomb carriers down. Tommy ran over and spotted the bombs.

"Oh man. How are we supposed to defuse these?" Jamie asked.

"I got an idea! I'm going to rig these two bombs to that Sea Sparrow over there. I can order another one anyway when I blow the old one up. I'm pretty sure the Cartel has their base over on Prawn Island, since it seems likely that they would take down the Sharks to get those flashy speedboats they have."

"Let's put on the disguises of the Cartel first." Jamie said.

After they had hidden their old clothes and phoned Ken, they both climbed into the helicopter. As Tommy readied the Sea Sparrow's engine, Jamie, riding shotgun, gave him a thumbs-up. They were ready to finish this fight, and kick the Cartel ass.

Carl dodged a stray bullet, before firing at two passing Ballas in a dark red Greenwood doing a drive-by. The powerful M4 killed both of them with lethal headshots. His phone rang.

"Hey, Tommy, I'm sending over two Hydra jets, ordered right from a secret hideout," came the Truth's voice.

"Okay, thanks. Just tell the pilots to watch out for us." Carl replied.

"Ok and they'll drop off some ammunition if you want it. Good luck."

Carl switched off the phone and threw a grenade under a Rancher full of Ballas trying to reverse from the wall. The grenade exploded, blowing the Rancher up and sending all the Ballas inside into hell.

Then, came flying over two SWAT helicopters along with five FBI trucks and three SWAT tanks. A couple of Hunters joined them. It was inevitably a police convoy that had decided to show up to stop the action, being the second time in a few weeks that this trouble had happened, and with a new police force trying to redeem themselves.

"Damn." Carl muttered, wishing he had a Stinger SAM missile launcher right at this moment.

The FBI trucks slid to a stop, and four FBI men all carrying MP5s got out. They started crouching behind their trucks, gunning down Ballas and OG members alike.

"YOU CORRUPT BASTARDS!" Carl yelled.

He pulled out his dual-SMGs and sprayed hard at the about twenty FBI men. He killed about eight of them, before diving behind cover as two grenades from Cesar blew up three trucks, and caused a chain reaction among the others.

A SWAT helicopter was now dropping off four SWAT guys with Uzi 9mms, but they were sprayed at by Carl's M4 and Cesar's dual sawn-off shotguns. The SWAT tanks were being fired on by the numerous number of OG men with shotguns, and although they weren't doing much, they were distracting the drivers inside. But yet another ten cop cars had come pouring in, trying to run over the warring gangsters. They needed something dramatic to happen, to break this stalemate and the triple alliance between the Vagos, Ballas and the Da Nang Boys.

The Sea Sparrow made its way to towards the Cartel base on Prawn Island. It was an old Shark base, one that Lance had flown Tommy over in a helicopter, where Tommy had used an M60 to gun down the Shark leader and take back Diaz's money. There were three Speeders and one Cuban Jetmax at the back, and there were three Cartel men in the Speeders readying for another cruise to Vercetti Estate. Tommy knew that Ken, Mike and his men wouldn't be able to hold for long, so he had to do this quick. The Cartel out back saw the Sea Sparrow, and fired, but noticing the two disguised Cartel men, they stopped. One of them ran right up to Tommy and Jamie when they landed.

"What's that?" he asked.

"A Sea Sparrow. We stole it from Vercetti's mansion. Built-in machine gun and all. Beauty, isn't it?" Tommy asked, trying to say the words in a Spanish accent.

"Yeah. But we'll use that for later. Get in the boats. What's with the men who went up first in the Squallos?"

"They're fine. Last time I saw them, they were mowing down Vercetti's men."

"Well, go join them. It's going to be our operation now."

"Don't know what's coming to them, eh Jamie?" Tommy joked as they ran for the Cuban Jetmax.

There were four Cartel men in the Jetmax, all holding formidable M16s. The driver had a Tec-9. But just as the Jetmax turned and headed for Vercetti Estate, Tommy and Jamie could hear the bomb blow. There was a massive rocking and the Jetmax capsized. Desperately, Tommy and Jamie swam for Prawn Island, through the back path of the Movie Studio entrance, where Tommy's Skimmer was. He and Jamie took off their Cartel disguises, got into the Skimmer, and flew off for the mansion before the Cartel could figure out anything.

As the Truth had promised, two Hydra jets had flown over. Carl had told the Truth for the Hydras to hit the Hunter helicopters and police helicopter circling the place, and it had just done so. Four missiles had softened up the police air convoy, and another four blew them all up. The cops were taken down by a wave of combined gunfire from the Triads, Carl, Cesar and Sweet along with their OG and Aztecas homies.

As CJ picked off two Ballas with easy headshots, he received a call from Woozie.

"OK! We're going to frame the Da Nang Boys! Two of my Maverick helicopters will be dropping off a bomb near your house. Get a Da Nang disguise; label it something to do with them, and then head to that crack palace Smoke used to own! Give them a surprise of their own for messing with us Triads!"

Woozie was definitely getting very emotional. CJ understood what it meant for a Chinese man, to fight for their country, even in something as low as a gang war.

He phoned the Truth to tell the Hydras to protect two Mavericks coming on the way, and to watch out. He also quickly whispered a word into Cesar and Sweet's ears about his little ambush from the inside, and told the triads about that as well, so he wouldn't get fired on.

The Mavericks dropped off a small package that Carl guessed, was the bomb. Picking off the clothes of a dead Da Nang boy, which was disgusting but needed, he jacked a Virgo trying to drive through the area unharmed, and drove off for the crack palace he had marched right through a few weeks ago. The palace had been repaired pretty fast, but CJ hoped it couldn't get fixed after this job today. He ran into the crack palace, avoiding the Ballas. He planted the bomb on the ground floor, behind a table where not many people could notice it. He then ran off, throwing off his disguise as soon as possible. Even as he ran back to his stolen Virgo, he could hear a massive explosion rock the place. The Ballas were in confusion as Carl sped back to OG turf to find Cesar and Sweet.

When Tommy and Jamie had got back to Vercetti Estate, the smell of death was still all around. Most of the dead were the Cartel, who had been held back by a grim and dogged counter-attack by Ken, Mike and Tommy's men. Tommy and Jamie ran to a weapons cabinet that Tommy had when he wanted needed some firepower, and they grabbed M4s and an MP5 and Colt Python each, before going out to join several of their business partners. Cortez was holding a Ruger. Ken had a shotgun. Mike was using dual Micro-Uzis and an S.P.A.S 12 shotgun. Even one-armed Phil Cassidy was there, standing on the roof, with a sniper rifle. Phil had told Tommy that he could still snipe with one hand, and had even proved so by hitting several moving targets from about a hundred yards away a couple of years ago. He waved at Tommy and Tommy waved back.

Four Cartel Cruisers pulled up, trying their luck, but were blown away by an absolute hail of gunfire.

"Look, Tommy, do you reckon the Cartel are gonna stop?" Ken asked.

"They certainly got resources." Tommy replied.

"But we're going to run out of ammo, sooner or later!"

"I can always drop in on Phil's Place and AmmuNation to grab some cannons."

"We're gonna punish the Cartel for trying to take me out of my operation. Everybody stay here. I'll go grab some heavy weapons and some explosives. Now all we need is to find out where the Cartel is mainly based in at the moment." Tommy said, as he drove off in his Admiral.

Carl had driven back to Orange Grove turf, where he spotted the Da Nang Boys battling it out with the Ballas. Their alliance had been broken, and now CJ's own alliance, the Orange Grove Families, old dominators of the turf, Varrios Los Aztecas, the passionate Mexicans, and the Triads, the hardworking Chinese, had taken the advantage. Now it was just time to finish the job.


	15. Finishing the Fight

The war getting nearing a close, but there were still many Ballas and Vagos to take out before the Triads, Varrios Los Aztecas and the Orange Grove families and their allies could move in for the kill. Piles of dead Ballas, Vagos, and Da Nang Boys were on the street, scattered everywhere, along with dead cops as well. And just to complete it, ironically, the Army had decided to show up with another lot of FBI agents.

The combined alliance of the three superpowers had managed to take out several of the Army trucks, and although a couple of tanks were somehow holding their own, nearly all of the foot soldiers had been quickly obliterated by the heavy fire of three of the biggest gangs in the whole state of San Andreas. The FBI agents were smarter, taking cover behind their trucks and Ranchers, and occasionally ducking out to try and pop somebody with their MP5s.

Carl, as usual, was in the middle of things, blowing hell into every fed and enemy gang member he could see. He was running out of ammunition a bit, but he had packed up so much firepower that he could last for several hours, if he scavenged a lot, he could last for days. Diving out of the way of a burst of M4 fire from one of the remaining marines, he capped him with a square shot to the chest and picked up his ammo. Another five AH-64 Hunter helicopters came flying over, trying to bring down the riot. Carl smirked at the attempt. He had arranged for a Stinger RPG to be brought over, and now Cesar was carrying it when they needed something a little extreme. Watching Cesar shoulder the heat-seeking missile launcher, Carl and a few of his other OG homies blew down the copters before one deadly missile finished it off. Watching satisfied, Carl wondered how to finish this war off with style.

Tommy drove his Admiral past a couple of speeding Cartel Cruisers driving towards the mansion. Cheekily rear-ending one and then spraying it with a hail of MP5 gunfire, Tommy chuckled at the stupidity of the Cartel: fat and no brains in anything but weapons. And they didn't even now how to use them that well either. One of the vehicles was blown up; the other one simply kept on driving on, sliding just outside the mansion, its four men inside managing to get out, before two shots, probably from Phil, blew off their heads and the other two were met by another wave of gunfire. Shaking his head, Tommy drove on. He discovered a close to a palace full of Cartel a few minutes later. Deciding that he would require a hell of a lot of firepower to break through here, he drove over to Phil's Place, and temporarily "borrowed" a minigun with at least 2000 rounds of ammo, and a rocket launcher. Carrying all this heavy weaponry, he prepared himself for a massive slaughter.

Tommy pulled up near the Cartel palace. Withdrawing a sniper rifle he had shoved in the trunk, he could see the remains of the former Cartel base that he and Jamie had blown up. Twisting on a silencer to his sniper, he zoomed in on the Cartel guards, and started picking them off. He was probably the best marksmen in all of Vice City, along with Phil, and he easily picked off each Cartel guard, not even feeling the hard recoil. The six guards fell pretty fast, slumping with their heads decapitated in their own pool of blood. Heaving up his minigun, he got out of the car, ready to kick ass.

Another wave of FBI agents slid in on Grove Street, but were quickly cut down, for the about a millionth time, by bullets rattling the air like the arrows of the Battle of Agincourt. Carl himself remembered how his teacher had taught him about that battle, and it was feeling closer and closer, looking at the events of the last few months. Arriving with the Orange Grove Families clinging on desperately, outnumbered and outgunned, Carl had forced himself off the ground from the lowest point in his life, and had somehow cut down through this hellhole. Although he certainly enjoyed home, San Andreas wasn't much better than Liberty in how life really went.

The battle was drawing closer and closer to the finish. It was transferring from the "go beat the fight out of those punk-asses" to "wipe their sorry butts on the floor and clear them up". The Triads and Aztecas had spread out more now, intent on taking down the last remaining fighters trying to hold their own in places like Glen Park. The Truth had sent a couple of Sea Sparrows and an extra Hydra in, along with a Cargobob with some built-in firepower. It was time to move in for the kill, Carl thought clearing up a one of the remaining Ballas gang members with a spray from his MP5.

Heaving the heavy minigun with him, Tommy set himself just outside the Cartel base, peeking for a way to get in. He was going to lure out the Cartel, and then run back and mow them down with his minigun. He drove his Admiral even closer, now that the guards had been eliminated, and pulled out his rocket launcher, firing two rockets at the entrance of the palace. The door was blown down, and several Cartel came to investigate, but were basically cut in half by Tommy's stream of lead coming from the minigun. More Cartel came rushing, looking for the assassin, but wave after wave of them was cut down. Tommy smirked again. After about fifty dead corpses were lying on the ground, their bodies riddled with bullets, Tommy packed his heavy weaponry back into the Admiral, and pulled out his M4 and Colt Python. He bet that there would be some SPANK in this base, and he was going to get it and land some heavy gold.

Tommy ran into the Cartel palace. There were at least five floors of Cartel to clear out, although Tommy bet that quite a lot of Cartel had been downed by his minigun. He headed on, shooting the two Cartel with their backs turned on him. He readied himself for another fight as he headed into the new room.

The Ballas and Vagos were getting brought down at a fast rate. Now CJ and his friends just had to stem the flow of the large charges of police reinforcements. It seemed as if the LSPD had sent their whole police force, along with a few branches of the SFPD and the LVPD. Despite about a hundred losses, the police force was starting to wear down the alliance, but they were suffering heavy casualties at every moment. It was an absolute bloodbath.

The battle was almost over though, and Carl was glad for that. He fired a burst of rounds at a police car, the bullets thumping through the windscreen and killing the driver inside. Bullets rattled all over the place, but they were slowly becoming less common. Finally, all the firing came to a stop. Carl gave a thumbs-up to Sweet. This was the moment of all moments since CJ had come back from Liberty. They had won.

Tommy cleared out the hall of Columbian Cartel, and at the end of the hallway, were two briefcases. Kicking them open, Tommy discovered a massive amount of SPANK lying in them. Grinning, Tommy stashed them in a corner to collect later, and see if there was anything else to take as punishment to the Cartel for trying to expand into Vice. Three more man came charging into the room, but were cut down quickly by Tommy's MP5. He moved on to the next room, where about thirty men were guarding at least twenty briefcases. Tommy ducked behind cover, and sprayed each of them down, before he ran up to the cases. Opening each one of them, he either found a large amount of SPANK or at least $30,000 in each one of them. Boy, was this a golden find. Heaving up as many briefcases as he could, Tommy unloaded everything into the Admiral. By the time everything had been fitted in, the Admiral could barely turn properly. But it was going to be worth it. Tommy drove his Admiral back to the mansion.

By the time he had got back, he discovered another pile of Cartel bodies, with all of his business partners, standing around the estate. This was the moment of moments for Tommy, even better than when he had taken down Sonny, and realised his new-found freedom. Slowly, he got out of his car, and shook hands with everyone who had fought this battle still alive around the mansion.

**Two weeks later**

"Four hundred." Sweet grinned, putting his money on the table.

"Damn, I fold." Cesar muttered. A few others also grumbled their folds.

"You're on." Carl challenged.

"Okay. Check it out." Sweet unveiled his hand of a full house king.

"Huh. Well, look at this." Carl smirked as he showed Sweet his royal flush.

"Damn you." Sweet muttered, handing over his money.

"Didn't think I'd do that, eh?" Carl asked cheekily.

The house roared with laughter. Life at the top sure was great.

"Whoa! How much money is this?" asked Jamie excitedly.

"30K. Go spend it." Tommy replied.

"All on watching a woman dance stripped all day?"

"Idiot," muttered Tommy as he counted the money he had stolen from the Cartel again.

$500,000 and a lot of SPANK. Not bad for some hard work and gore, Tommy thought as he joined Mike and Ken at the bar for a drink.

**End note: Well, that's the end of the story, unless you want more. Thanks to ALL my reviewers, especially E-Z B who gave me advice and good comments all the way through this story. Keep an eye out for my Vice City novelization!**


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